Arusha, May 21, 2015 (FH) \u2013 Torture, muffling victims\u2019 cries of pain, removing their bodies in the night: these are some of the accusations against the youth of the ruling party in Burundi. The warning comes in a letter signed by prominent civil society and political figures, including two former presidents.<\/p>\n
In the letter dated May 18 and received by JusticeInfo.Net on Thursday, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya and Domitien Ndayizeye do not mince their words. These two Hutu former heads of state, who are now Senators, accuse the Imbonerakure, the youth of President Pierre Nkurunziza\u2019s CNDD-FDD party, of sowing terror in the capital Bujumbura, on roads across the country and at its borders.<\/p>\n
Nkurunziza\u2019s r\u00e9gime has since the end of last month been facing a huge wave of protest by the opposition and civil society demanding he withdraw from presidential elections scheduled for June 26. \u00a0Opponents and human rights activists accuse him of violating Burundi\u2019s 2005 Constitution and the 2000 Arusha Peace Accords which limit the number of presidential mandates of an individual to two. But supporters of Nkurunziza, who has headed this poor country for the last 10 years, say his first mandate doesn\u2019t count because he was elected by Parliament and not by the people.<\/p>\n
Using the police, who have not hesitated to fire real bullets to disperse the protesters, former-rebel Nkurunziza is trying to regain control of the situation following an attempted coup last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing the pretext of suppressing the putsch, loyalist forces supported by the Imbonerakure militia have torched private radios which had already been targeted by the government for several weeks,\u201d say the signatories in their appeal to regional heads of state, the African Union, European Union and United States.<\/p>\n
Whereas the government initially condemned these attacks against private radios, Nkurunziza on Wednesday issued a \u201cwarning\u201d to any national and international media \u201cwho try to spread information of a nature to sow hatred and division amongst Burundians and discredit Burundi or encourage insurrection especially during this electoral period\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to the letter, the Imbonerakure are now helping to man checks on borders and main roads where people suspected of opposing Nkurunziza\u2019s third term bid are arrested on the basis of previously established lists of names.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis militia is organized and operates under the command of former administrator of the intelligence service (SNR) Adolphe Nshimirimana\u201d, who is implicated, according to the signatories, in various human rights abuses. \u201cIn complicity with elements of the SNR, this militia is carrying out abusive interrogations and arbitrary arrests\u201d, say the signatories, who also include former parliamentary presidents Jean Minani and L\u00e9once Ngendakumana.<\/p>\n
According to this \u201curgent appeal\u201d, the militia\u2019s headquarters is the bar and restaurant of Lieutenant Colonel Adolphe Nshimirimana, situated on the primary main road (Route Nationale 1) in Rumonge commune on the edge of Bujumbura. There, the Imbonerakure are \u201csupervised by certain high ranking officers of the police and army\u201d, according to the letter\u2019s authors, who say this bar-restaurant has become \u201ca place where people abducted from residential areas and forced from private and public transport vehicles are subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment\u201d.<\/p>\n
The letter says the torturers are doing everything to cover up their acts. \u201cWhen torture is being inflicted, the perpetrators of these terrible deeds make sure the cries of pain of their victims are muffled to the last by loud music blasting from powerful speakers. Their human remains are taken away in vehicles in the night to an unknown destination, according to concurring sources.\u201d<\/p>\n
The signatories accuse Nkurunziza\u2019s r\u00e9gime of deliberately arming and maintaining the Imbonerakure militia. They call on the international community to \u201curgently deploy an intervention force to Burundi to first ensure the security of people and property\u201d.<\/p>\n
Some observers note that Burundi\u2019s former Tutsi presidents Jean-Baptiste Bagaza and Pierre Buyoya have not signed the letter.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time the youth of the CND-FDD have been accused of terrorizing opponents. The government, questioned about it notably by the United Nations, has always said such accusations are unfounded.<\/p>\n
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Arusha, May 21, 2015 (FH) \u2013 Torture, muffling victims\u2019 cries of pain, removing their bodies in the night: these are some of the accusations against the youth of the ruling party in Burundi. The warning comes in a letter signed by prominent civil society and political figures, including two former presidents. In the letter dated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":66432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2153],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","ji_location-burundi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n