Burundi: When and how would Burundi be equipped with a truly national army and police? (Part six)
The current defence and security corps (CDS) are made up of the national defence force and the national police, in accordance with the new constitution of 2018. From 2005 until 2018, the CDS also included, in plus the two previous institutions, the national intelligence service that people like to call the National Documentation. In other words, when the ex PMPA joined the old army, the three groups made up the CDS.
The CDS were therefore a kind of heterogeneous mixture comprising the former members of the Burundian Armed Forces, called the ex fab; the integrated members from the cnddfdd, kaze fdd, cndd, fnl, and other small movements like fnl Mugabarabona who had hardly been able to integrate any fighter because they were very few and with very few weapons.
For there to be a homogeneous army, there had to be training together between all its components, so that there was perfect harmonization. We said it, just a small unit (of experience) was harmonized at Camp Bururi. For the rest, harmonization training had to be done in the different units where they will be transferred. What was very difficult for three main reasons: the first reason is that there were members from ex pmpa who could neither write nor read. First, we had to teach them that like we teach a kindergarten child. However, everyone knows that in the army, ranks only enter after failing the 6th primary. The second reason that has blocked the possibility of harmonization is the visceral hatred that was and is until today between the cnddfdd and the fnl. They barely agreed to live together in the same unit. You understand that, after the victory of the cnddfdd in the 2005 elections, almost all the members of the fnl who had been integrated deserted one by one the CDS, some preferred civilian life, others left for the bush with Major Nzabampema (who worked at the FDN headquarters) The victory of the cnddfdd in the 2005 elections is a third reason which explains the lack of harmonization between the different elements that made up the CDS. Indeed, this victory blocked the efforts of many CDS members from cnddfdd, to study. Even the officers who had shown the goodwill to continue their studies, who had even started to study, quit, preferring to go to positions of responsibility, even if they were not up to these functions. It was also after this victory that they began to violate the Arusha accords, by appointing the former members of the cnddfdd to the positions initially reserved for the former members of the ex fab, to be honest, the places of the Tutsis were occupied by of the hutus of the cnddfdd. And no one lifted a finger to oppose it. The reason is simple: since the cnddfdd had the power, those who would normally have to say no to the violation of the law were also afraid of losing their positions, and they preferred to be silent. This is how it started and escalated to the present situation.
The current CDS situation is dire; we are almost back to the situation of 1965 when, according to our informants, the soldiers and the gendarmes were more than 80% Hutu and less than 20% Tutsi. Over a period of 15 years, almost all the former soldiers of the ex fab, all categories combined, retired. If there are ten of the elements from the cnddfdd that would be retired, they would be too many because they changed their dates of birth upon integration. The cheating at home is not new. During the various recruitments that took place up to the provincial level, we have information that some Hutus were cheating and, in complicity with the cnddfdd administration, said that they are Tutsis, a way of occupying their places. Here, it must be understood that even if there would be a semblance of balance among these young people, as long as command is almost exclusively reserved for members from the cnddfdd, all decisions rest with them. You must also understand that where the Tutsis are leaders at the first level (Division, Brigade or Battalion commander), the cnddfdd power gives instructions to his deputy or another officer to follow him closely and to inform all his movements. In other words, these Tutsis are in these places like extras, just to show that there is a sharing of responsibilities. The most dubious missions (they are the many) are not entrusted to him. If he learns that things have happened in his area of responsibility without being informed, he does not react for fear of losing his job or simply being assassinated. You will see some, with weak spirits, who work with great zeal by killing or being too severe towards the Tutsis to gain the confidence of these Hutu extremists who are in power and who have bread to give. But, they forget that end of the ends; they will have to answer alone for their acts. And the great probability is that such traitors will end up being killed by the very people who used them as objects.
At the level of the police, even at the integration the balances were not respected and people did not take much interest in this body, their eyes were very much on the army. Today, no one knows how many Tutsi policemen remain in this corps. With the demonstrations of 2015, all the Tutsi elements that remained were transferred to the interior of the country where they are rotting without any consideration. Killing one by one who lets himself be dominated by alcohol becomes a simple matter.
The national intelligence service has always been a preserve of the cnddfdd. For a long time, no provincial intelligence chief has been Tutsi. They are only members of the cnddfdd and all Hutus. The few Tutsis who would be in this corps would be at the headquarters level. And there too, these are elements used to spy on their Tutsi friends and sell them at auction. What a dirty mission. They too will eventually be trapped (by their leaders) and killed.
URNHITAMWONEZA has just described to you CDS made up of heterogeneous, non-harmonized elements, each one obedient (at least implicitly) to its original party leader. Those from the cnddfdd are not ashamed to belong to this party because it has the power. Which is against the constitution. CDS divided within them, which shows that the results cannot be positive.
We will talk to you tomorrow about how they currently operate, and we will try to find a solution to the problem of setting up republican and professional CDSs who care about the interests of the country and its people without distinction
