MUYINGA June 6th (ABP) – Security is being put to the test in the communes of Buhinyuza, Gashoho and Mwakiro in Muyinga province (northeast of Burundi), by the belief in obscurantist practices, in turn indicated on Wednesday during a monthly safety meeting, the administrators of said entities. According to those communal authorities, that behavior often leads to a climate of mistrust between the suspected “sorcerers” and the rest of the community. Also, they deplored patients in some cases rely on sorcerers instead of consulting health care structures. In Gashoho commune, the population in certain villages is experiencing panic fear following a phenomenon that no one has mastered, alerted the communal administrator, Mrs. Faousia Kabatesi.
In Giteranyi commune, the administration is concerned about repetitive malicious acts of destruction. Banana fields are badly destroyed, cut with machetes. Domestic animals in the barn such as cattle or pigs are killed or fatally injured. Criminogenic behavior recently identified on the Murama and Rusenyi villages, said Florida Nduwayezu, the new administrator.
The provincial governor, Jean Claude Barutwanayo, called on the quadrilogy to work in synergy to strengthen security. As a strategy, he suggested reinvigorating intelligence to take proactive action to thwart potential troublemakers. Also, the tight supervision of the population is also another strategy to guarantee security. Police officials, present at the meeting, condemned aloud the attempt of a person to disarm, last Monday night, a policeman in Bwasare in Gasorwe commune. They asked the courts to punish that outlaw to serve as a lesson to other offenders. Returning to beliefs in obscurantist practices, the provincial commissioner of police, Colonel Melchior Bizimana, urged administrators to raise awareness of positive social behavior by highlighting the teachings provided by clergy and other pastors.