Burundi: Who killed Prince Louis Rwagasore killed the Burundian Nation
We lost a son worthy of the country, we lost a good future for our children, for the whole people (at least until today because we do not control what will come tomorrow).
Shrewd observers assert on the basis of logical and convincing arguments that “ if Rwagasore had remained alive, at least until today, with the conscience on unity and work aimed at national progress, Burundi would be one of the countries stable and developed ”.
The prince was an intelligent man, visionary, unifier and patriot who aimed only for the development of all Burundians without exception, starting with the poorest. The unity, peace and security of all Burundians were the basis of all social development. The speech given after the victory of his Uprona party on September 18, 1961 says it all. We offer you a few excerpts from it that will allow you to reflect a little on the dark history of our country, our political parties and our leaders until today. Prince Louis Rwagasore said: “Above all, the inhabitants of Burundi must feel at peace and security, that no one believes himself to be threatened and that everyone has confidence in the protection of the Government”. ‘’ I especially urge supporters and friends of UPRONA to show themselves worthy of the Party’s victory. Active activists must enlarge the circle of our friends, extend their hand loyally and cordially to yesterday’s adversaries and not display pride or insolence “;” “True victory will only come after a difficult but exhilarating task has been accomplished; a peaceful, happy and prosperous Burundi’’
Have we kept this heritage of Prince Rwagasore? Have we kept unity among Burundians or have we just done the opposite? Without unity, there is no peace, no development. If Rwagasore came back today, he would be disappointed.
But, whoever killed him knew that the result would be this. And that’s what he wanted. Who is then the real assassin of Prince Louis Rwagasore? It is common knowledge that it was the Greek Jean Kageorgis who pulled the trigger on the weapon once used to kill animals. It is also often said that the sponsors were hanged at Gitega stadium. We talk about Ntidendereza and Birori and others. It is like the case of the assassination of Ndadaye in 1993 where it is said that the nicknamed Kiwi used a rope to kill him; a few other junior officers and soldiers were arrested and imprisoned. Were they the main planners of the assassination of this president? The answer is no. We also remain convinced that the planners of the assassination of Prince Louis Rwagasore are the very ones who did not want to see the Burundians united; we are thinking in particular of extremists like Albert Mauss, master of ethnic and the ideology of exclusion and genocide in Rwanda who wanted to implement the same plan in Burundi; we are especially thinking of the initiators of the “divide and conquer” policy; we are thinking precisely of the colonizer, Belgium. It’s up to the current Belgian authorities to prove us wrong. Perhaps the Wouter De Vriendt commission (a special commission of ten experts who will look into Belgium’s colonial past) will shed more light on this issue.
URNHITAMWONEZA considers that the origin of the problems which Burundi knows until today is the policy “divide and reign” initiated by the Belgian colonizer. If in Burundi and Rwanda there were always ethnic exclusions until the genocide, Belgium bears its preponderant share of responsibility. Prince Louis Rwagasore, who advocated the unity of the Burundians, and thanks to which he achieved victory and immediate independence, could not survive in the face of those who fiercely fought his ideology. We will keep on screaming until the truth comes out. And Belgium would do better to sit down together with the Burundians to deal with all questions relating to the colonial period; such delicate questions for the future of Burundi.
We will come back in detail to the ideology of Prince Louis Rwagasore in comparison with the situation we are currently living.