Republic of Burundi
Office of the Secretary General
and Spokesperson of The Government
Government Statement to Clarify The Inaccurate Interpretations of The Message to the Nation on November 2, 2015 on Disarmament of Civilians.
Following the Message to the Nation of HE the President of the Republic in the national language on November 2, 2015, giving the last chance for illegal owners of weapons especially those who have infiltrated into the population of boroughs subject to the insurgency related to elections of July 2015, several reactions were heard in the national and international opinion.
These reactions show inaccurate interpretation of the message by public opinion because of the speculations of those who wanted to deliberately distort the intent of the Head of State.
To this end, the Government of Burundi would like to make the following clarifications:
1. Since the end of the elections and the consecutive establishment of institutions in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic and the Arusha Accords, the actors of the insurrectional movement and those of the failed coup of 13 May 2015 organized themselves into a real terrorist network, with practices and acts hitherto unknown, including the attack on civilian targets such as religious premises.
2. It should be recalled that in the night from 26 to 27 of October this year, a heavily armed commando from Cibitoke attacked the convent of Kamenge Youth Centre, home to the Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Monsignor Jean Louis Nahimana, and four other priests who fortunately escaped unharmed. In a Communiqué issued on the 28 of October, the Government condemned this despicable act and urged the international community to do the same, but unfortunately this appeal was not heeded.
3. The series of horrors is very long. The kidnapping of people followed by their killing in atrocious conditions, the beheading of victims and the mutilation of their bodies, evidenced by the barbarity of the terrorists at Mutakura in the urban borough of Cibitoke in the night from 4 to 5 November 2015 when three people, including someone named Gabin Sungura, an employee of an insurance company were murdered, with the heart of the latter ripped off. Another person was also beheaded on the same night.
4. Last night, the night from 7 to 8 November 2015, these terrorists have signed a new barbaric act with the attack on a pub in the neighborhood of Kajaga in Kanyosha area of the urban borough of Muha, killing seven persons and injuring two others. All these atrocities cannot be justified by political motives as a certain opinion may argue.
5. Since the beginning of the insurrection, the Government of Burundi has repeatedly condemned the terrorist drift the insurgency movement was taking and has repeatedly called on the international community to exert sufficient pressure against those who provide weapons, train or provide funding to these criminals to get them stop such a dangerous move that might develop into a terrorist network hard to deal with in the long run, and such is currently the case. It is therefore inconceivable that so far there is no condemnation whatsoever from the international community against these atrocities and their master minders.
6. Faced with this rampant terrorist situation created by criminals disguised as peaceful demonstrators who shortly developed into stark criminals despite the constant appeal of the Government to the international community since the beginning of the insurrectional movement, it is right for a responsible President of the Republic to take decisions conferred by the Constitution of the Republic in his capacity as guarantor of order and security for all citizens.
7. The Message to the Nation of 2 November 2015 which is indeed clear in all its aspects was imperative. It was a final call after the grace period granted to holders of illegal weapons by Decree Nr 100/36 of 24 September 2015, exempting illegal weapons owners from criminal prosecution. This decision granted a one-month period to any person possessing illegal firearms to voluntarily surrender them.
It was also a continuation of clemency from the Head of State towards holders of weapons including those pushed or intimidated to get them (weapons), so that they voluntarily hand in these weapons without waiting for being exposed to criminal penalties under the law.
Therefore, it was not a call for any violence whatsoever.
8. In the light of the different reactions and statements surrounding the Message to the Nation by the President of the Republic on November 2, 2015, the Government of Burundi notes that the authors of these reactions were manipulated by hostile political circles, because no passage of the Message triggers any violence, let alone inciting to genocide whose bitter experience has been suffered by the people of Burundi since the independence of their country.
Those who play with genocide are the very ones who rely on a national catastrophe to conquer the power after realizing that the electoral process offers no chance to them. Something they constantly and loudly voice before the international community.
9. The Government of Burundi would therefore like to reassure the national and international opinion that the Message of the Head of State is in no way a call for persecution against anyone but rather a measure to restore peace and security throughout the national territory until there are no crime strongholds likely to threaten peace and security for law-abiding citizens.
10. The Government would like to remind the international community that everywhere in the world where terrorist groups operate by the taking people hostages as observed recently, the duty of the government is primarily to protect citizens, but also to do everything to free those taken hostages from the hands of terrorist with the maximum of care and minimum of casualties. And that is what President Nkurunziza was emphasizing in his recent Message to the Nation inaccurately interpreted by a certain opinion.
The Government reiterates its commitment to use the maximum of professionalism in the work ahead to disarm recalcitrant and would like to reassure the population of the areas concerned that everything will be done to protect them and their property.
11. The Government urges the people of Burundi in general and the inhabitants of the city of Bujumbura in particular to reject and condemn the return to the atrocities of previous years. The Government asks the population to remain calm and united and to prepare peacefully for the upcoming Inter-Burundian Dialogue.
Done at Bujumbura, November 08, 2015
Philippe NZOBONARIBA
Secretary-General and Spokesman
of the Government.-
