KAYANZA January 30th (ABP) – Internally displaced persons of Rukambura and Nyabibuye sites in Butaganzwa commune of Kayanza province (north), who have returned to their villages of origin, are recommended not to return to the sites to carry out various agricultural activities there, because the properties they occupied belong to the State. That appeal was made to them on Thursday, January 26 by the governor of Kayanza when he went there. He also recommended State officials, who have built houses there, to pack up without any conditions.
The IDP sites of Rukambura and Nyabibuye in Butaganzwa commune date from 1999 when Burundi was going through the period of war. Those sites had a total of 459 households, of which 370 have already returned to their village of origin. Following disagreements related to the fact that some IDPs who have already returned to their villages return to the said sites to carry out agricultural activities there while the properties they occupied belongs to the commune and the parish of Buraniro, the governor of Kayanza, Rémy Cishahayo, along with his two advisers, paid a visit there. He asked the IDPs who have returned to their respective villages not to return to the sites to carry out different activities, because the properties they occupied have been handed over to the commune and the parish of Buraniro. He took issue with the inhabitants who bought the properties of the internally displaced who returned to their villages of origin while specifying that they will not have access to those properties because, he added, they are State-owned. He also warned State officials who have grabbed properties on the sites by building houses there whereas they have never resided there. Those were recommended to pack up unconditionally and as soon as possible.
The former displaced persons of the Rukambura and Nyabibuye sites now residing in their villages of origin, testified that they maintain good relations with their neighbors who had remained in the villages and that they help each other in all circumstances. Taking advantage of those testimonies, the governor of Kayanza asked the internally displaced persons who now reside in the sites to return voluntarily to their villages of origin, since the Kayanza province is generally peaceful. He proposed to the communal administration of Butaganzwa to help those who want to return in the manufacture of bricks and in the elevation of the walls of their houses, and the provincial administration will take care of the roofs for those who will have built houses.