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S.E. Evariste Ndayishimiye

S.E. AMBASSADEUR ALBERT SHINGIRO

Ministre des Affaires étrangères et de
la Coopération au Développement

THERENCE NTAHIRAJA

Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire

THE GOVERNMENT OF BURUNDI DENOUNCES AN ADDITIONAL BLUNDER BY FRANCE 24

REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI

 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL

 

               AND SPOKESPERSON OF THE GOVERNMENT

 

THE GOVERNMENT OF BURUNDI DENOUNCES AN ADDITIONAL BLUNDER BY FRANCE 24.

 

 

  1. In the night spanning between Wednesday 16 May and Thursday 17 May 2017, a terrorist attack was perpetrated against a family in the Gikoto locality in the urban borough of ​​Musaga in the City of Bujumbura. This attack targeted young people members of the CNDD-FDD party, called IMBONERAKURE, the youth wing of the ruling party in Burundi. Subsequent to the attack, three people: Audifax Ndayizeye, Cedric Kwizera and Reagan Harerimana lost their lives. In addition, three members of the same family, namely Ladouce Iradukunda, Nice Shurweryimana, and Trifine Kabageni were seriously injured as a result of the attack.

  2. The Government of Burundi is deeply shocked by this despicable act, strongly condemns this unnamed barbarity and extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families.

  3. The attack comes amid a media campaign maintained by some foreign NGOs well known for their active roles during the insurrection that led to the foiled coup d’état of 2015, when similar atrocities were committed against government supporters, particularly the members of the IMBONERAKURE youth wing, constantly victims of a demonization and dehumanization campaign which obviously prepared them to be legitimate target and victims

    of the massacres that were to follow the coup d’état if its masterminders had not suffered a crushing defeat.

  4. Indeed, none ignores the scenes of daily violence committed by the insurgents during the so-called "peaceful demonstrations", with people killed in the daylight, with some burned alive, and others mutilated while their property was looted, simply because they are known to be IMBONERAKURE. And this violence took place in one of the insurrectionary suburbs of which Musaga, where at the moment the situation had returned to normal, had not been this regrettable criminal incident.

  5. The terrorist attack of May 16-17, 2017, prompts the Government to react with strong condemnation of this despicable act which no political claim could ever justify. Those who are truly committed to fighting the scourge of terrorism should firmly condemn this barbarity.

  6. In addition, the Government was deeply shocked by the cynicism of the French television channel France 24, which stated that the death of the Musaga victims was a deserved punishment because, according to this television, all IMBOREKURE are militia people, all serving President Nkurunziza, the incumbent President of Burundi.

  7. The Government condemns this involvement of the media of hatred in the Burundian crisis, inasmuch as the role of France 24 has been documented in the evolution of the destabilization of Burundi since 2013 with the story of an alleged rebellion led by a fictitious Rwandan-Congolese rebel leader, Gen. Moïse, the role of France 24 journalists in the amplification of the insurgency in the Cibitoke area in Mutakura, Musaga and Nyakabiga where the police apprehended them in full simulation of the scenes of Violence to be published across the world.

  8. The Government of Burundi again urges France 24 and requests its reporters to show more responsibility rather than being embarked on a political agenda likely to harm human lives by encouraging murder and retaliation.

 

  1. Since this renewed violence and the media coverage that it has enjoyed proves sufficiently that this is an act of provocation in order to revive the genocidal dream on which the 2015 coup plotters have banked, the Government of Burundi urge all the members of youth wings of political parties to beware of the trap of revenge, just as they did during the insurrection of April 2015.

Indeed, the putschists and their sponsors went so far as to immolate innocent people in the hope of a spontaneous reaction of the friends and relatives of the victims, thus allowing a foreign intervention supposedly dispatched to stop the genocide, and the disappointment was total as today.

 

  1. Following the example of the population of Karuzi Province at the time of the publication of the macabre images by television France 3 attributing to them the atrocities committed by Boko Haram in West Africa, the Burundian youth is called to ignore this campaign of hatred which is only intended to demoralize them, they are instead urged to embark on development work, since the future of their country depends on the combination of their contribution, both physical and moral. The Defense and Security Forces are there to guarantee peace throughout the country.

  2. Finally, the Government asks the population to remain united and serene, and above all not to yield to this campaign of provocation or to be distracted by the rumors which, as in the past, only seek to create a climate likely to disrupt the good preparation for the 2020 elections.

 

 

Done at Bujumbura, 20th of May 2017

                      Philippe NZOBONARIBA

 

                                                                                                    Secretary-General and Spokesman

                         of the Government.-