GITEGA August 31st (ABP) – The Burundi Senate President, Mr. Emmanuel Sinzohagera, received in audience, behind closed doors, Friday, August 26, 2022, in his office, at Gitega, the political capital of the country (center), the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Mr. Pierre-Claver Ndayicariye, who came to give him a report on the status of the activities of that commission for the current year, revealed that here, during an interview granted to the media.
At the end of the interview. Mr. Ndayicariye clarified that his communication was aimed at helping parliament understand where the TRC is coming from and where it is going so that when the 2022 progress report is presented, the senior authorities of the senate and the national assembly have an idea of the activities in progress.
This year, he said, the TRC is mainly concentrating on furthering the investigations into the tragedies and crimes committed during the years 1972 and 1973. Mr. Ndayicariye added that, there, the commission is making a march towards the years 1971 when there was an attempted coup d’Etat attributed to the Batutsi-Banyaruguru, 1969 when there was also an attempted coup d’Etat attributed to the Hutu, 1965 when there was talk of an attack on the palace of the King Mwambutsa, the assassinations of Prime Minister Pierre Ngendandumwe, Bishop Gabriel Gihimbare and Christian trade unionists from Kamenge.
On those two aspects of coup attempts, Mr. Ndayicariye said that a judgment of double standards was applied. He specified that for the Hutu, the TRC found that they were condemned and executed without recourse unlike the 1971 coup d’Etat where the condemned benefited from clemency from the Head of State.
Mr. Ndayicariye said that this reality of double standards has created a gap, a mistrust at the level of the national community. He ended his remarks by indicating that the TRC looks at the period from 1885 to 1960 marked by German and Belgian colonization as well as the period of the monarchy.
The objective pursued is to inquire whether there are any signs or flashing lights that reveal serious violations of human rights during those periods.