GITEGA June 28th (ABP) – The second vice president of the Senate of Burundi, Mr. Cyriaque Nshimirimana read, on Friday June 25, a press release marking the end of the work of the five conferences organized by the Senate on testimonies and reflections under the following theme: 49 years later, remember and qualify the events of 1972 in Burundi.
That activity took place in the premises of the Senate House of Gitega (central Burundi). It was attended by the guests from all socio-professional categories of the country.
The purpose of those conferences was to support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in its search for the truth about the tragedies that shook Burundi for nearly half a century and to give them the most objective explanation possible, the press release said.
For more details, the reader indicated that the Senate organized those conferences with the goals of paying homage to the thousands of fellow citizens killed in 1972, opening a podium to give an opportunity to all those who have to testify to break the silence in order to help the Senate collect enough testimonies and reflections aimed at reaching the truth about the nature of the crimes committed in 1972, contribute to the qualification of the crimes of 1972 and allow the government to set up a program of moral reparation for the victims .
Another goal aims to initiate actions to assess the level of reconciliation reached in Burundi with a view to the operationalization of article 289 of the Constitution of Burundi which provides that a five-year period is granted to the Senate to make the aforementioned assessment in order to end or extend the ethnic quota system in the executive, the legislative and the judiciary after the establishment of the institutions resulting from the 2020 elections. In addition, Mr. Nshimirimana underlined that those conferences were organized in continuation of the information and reflections shared by the senators during the legislature 2015-2020 on the royal decree of August 21, 1925 signed by the King of the Belgians, Albert 1st, to regulate the administrative reform known by Burundi under Belgian colonization.
Hosted by Mr. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, former Burundian Head of State, those conferences were attended by representatives of important institutions of the country, indicated Mr. Nshimirimana, citing, among others, the Office of the President the Republic, the Parliament, the Government, the Institution of the Ombudsman, the Various National Councils, the Defense and Security Forces, the Judiciary, Civil Society Organizations, Diplomatic and Consular Representations accredited in Burundi, the Community of Researchers and Scientists, the Diaspora and the Media.
Among the recommendations that the latter made include, in particular, the qualification of the crimes committed against the Bahutu in 1972, the identification of the means of the State mobilized to massacre the victims, the management of that genocide in accordance with the national and international laws relating thereto and moral reparation for victims.
Mr. Nshimirimana said that the participants in those conferences made recommendations to the government, parliament, the truth and reconciliation commission, the Catholic Church and other religious denominations, civil society organizations, representatives of political parties, victims of 1972, the Kingdom of Belgium and the United Nations. The Senate of Burundi will analyze those recommendations and address them To Whom It May Concern, Mr. Nshimirimana concluded.
Note that the five conferences bore the following titles: How to read and qualify the events experienced by Burundi from April 29 to June 30, 1972; the advent of the genocide power of Michel Micombero: Charles Ndizeye, a prince used to sabotage a monarchy of which he is heir; mystery and manipulation around the armed elements attacking in the south-west of the country: a strategy of Michel Micombero in the service of his project against the Bahutu; a genocide hidden by the State of Burundi and the international community: the genocide of the Bahutu 1972-1973; a concern for the genocide power: to survive his crime.