BUBANZA July 30th (ABP) – The Second Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Cyriaque Nshimirimana, calls on the inhabitants of Bubanza province to facilitate the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) by giving their contributions in knowing the truth about the painful past that has grieved the Burundians, especially on what happened in 1972. This was disclosed in the meeting of that authority with the inhabitants of Mpanda, Rugazi and Gihanga communes, on Wednesday July 28, at the headquarters of Mpanda commune (north-west of Burundi).
During the meeting, the second deputy president of the Upper House of Parliament indicated that what happened in 1972 left many scars, both among the executioners and descendants of the missing victims.
He reassured the descendants of the executioners that what their parents did does not engage them, and that the work of the TRC has the goal of preparing a better future for Burundi and the Burundians towards a “never again”.
All the testimonies of the survivors of 1972, from the Mpanda, Rugazi and Gihanga communes, converge on the fact that those who were targeted in those massacres of 1972 were Burundians of “Hutu ethnic group and ask that what happened be qualified of “genocide”.
Some of them say they were saved by their “Tutsi” neighbors.
Those surviving victims deplore the dehumanization they have undergone by calling them “renegades” (abamenja) and that all their wealth has been looted, and for this, they are asking for reparation, a check in Mpanda commune by ABP revealed.
The second deputy president of the Senate invites the Burundians to support the work of the TRC, to get ready to ask forgiveness and forgive, towards a peaceful Burundi. He also called on the village administrative officials and residents on the spot to combine efforts to safeguard security, especially since the Bubanza province borders the DR Congo which is home to those who often threaten security in Burundi, he said.