BUJUMBURA, June 14th (ABP) – The University of Burundi, in collaboration with the ZIRIKANA UB-95 association, organised a conference-debate in Bujumbura on Tuesday 11 June 2024 to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the massacres of Hutu students by Tutsi students on 11 June 1995.
Various presentations were made by people who lived through these events, including Sébastien Ntahongendera, a member of the ZIRIKANA UBU-95 association.
During his presentation, Mr. Ntahongendera recalled the events that took place on the various campuses of the University of Burundi before 11 June 2024. Before that date, he recounted, Hutu and Tutsi students stared at each other in the restaurant of the University of Burundi and even after the catering. He went on to say that there was a love-hate relationship between the two groups, as evidenced by the two chains of shame (one for Hutu students and the other for Tutsi students) in the university restaurant.
Other incidents, he said, included the accusation that a student was in possession of a mortar weapon, and the imprisonment of a student named Félicité who was returning to campus and was accused of possessing drugs to fuel the rebellion. The Tutsi students ordered a search of the campuses.
Another incident concerned the ban on Hutu students going to the university restaurant after 7pm. Fearing for their safety, the Hutu students decided to leave the various campuses, as all these events were proof that they were being provoked.
Mr. Ntahongera pointed out that ethnic groups exist in Burundi and that they must be used to build the country.
The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Abraham Niyongere, spoke about the notion of love. According to him, these students lacked true love, which led them to commit the despicable act of killing their fellow students.
the despicable act of killing their ethnic Hutu brothers. The fact that we are of different ethnic groups does not mean that we are enemies because, he said, all men are created in the image of God. He also called on the participants to love one another, meaning that each ethnic group is useful to the other.
In his speech on the concept of ethnicity, Pierre Claver Ndayicariye, who was present at the ceremony, said that ethnic groups do not kill, but that it is man who kills. He asked university lecturers to instil in their students the culture of telling the truth, because, he said, freeing speech is freeing a people.