February 1-7, 2013
Weekly Media Monitoring report for Burundi
Posted on February 11, 2013
Contents
Compiled by Katalin Berényi, MIGS Desk Officer for Burundi
- 22nd Anniversary of the Charter of National Unity
- Election 2015: UN presence needed
- ’Post-war Burundi, seen from the hood’
1. 22nd Anniversary of National Unity
RTNB, government-owned media
’Commémoration du vingt deuxieme anniversaire de la journée de l’unité nationale’
By A. Kantiza, Feb 4 2013
- The 22nd anniversary of the Charter of national Unity will be celebrated on 5th February 2013 in Burundi under the title ’Unity is the source of sustainable development and peace.’
- The assistant of the minister of home affairs, Mr. Evariste Nsabiyumva, announced the programme of the festivity focusing on all the monuments of national unity in Burundi
- He also took the opportunity to thank the Burundian population for its solidaity vis-à- vis the victims of the devastating fire that burnt down the central market of Bujumbura
- However, Frédéric Bamvungunyumvira, vice-president of the political party Sahwanya-Frodebu, highlighted the fact that only a few days after the adoption of the charter of national unity, the democratically elected president (Melchior Ndadaye) was killed in 1993 before the country fell in into an open civil war
- He also emphasized that ethnic hatred still arises from time to time and it cannot be ignored
2. Election 2015: UN presence needed
Radio Isanganiro, privately-owned media
’Election 2015: L’ADC Ikibiri et la mouvance bientot autours des Nations Unies’
by Désiré Nimubona, Feb 5 2013
- The United Nations will meet the members of political parties of both the opposition and the government over the next few days in order to make some preparatory work for the 2015 elections. The announcement was made by Léonce Ngendakumana, president of the ’Alliance of Democrats for Change’ (ADC-Ikibiri)
- He also salutes the visit of the UN under-secretary in charge of political questions in Burundi
3. ’Post-war Burundi, seen from the hood’
African Arguments (via All Africa), independent media,
’Back to Musaga: Post-war Burundi seen from the hood’, interesting opinion and historical memories of Kris Berwouts
Feb 5 2013
- Kris Berwouts worked for an international peace movement working on the cooperation with Burundian youth associations at the time
- Burundi fell in into a civil war after the assassination of Burundi's first democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye. Followers of Ndadaye's political movement, predominantly Hutu, took up arms to restore democracy. The national army, dominated by radical Tutsi, reacted extremely violently, as it had done under the previous regimes. The population found themselves caught in the middle of this spiral of violence
- Berwouts’ team invited Burundian youth leaders to Northern Ireland to learn best practices. An Irish specialist in conflict management also travelled to Bujumbura
- According to Berwouts, the neighbourhood of Musaga had been mixed but a few weeks after Ndadaye's death, all the Hutu of the community had been chased out of the mixed neighbourhood. „The lucky ones had been able to escape, empty handed. The others probably still lay under the debris. The neighbourhood had turned into a fortress of Tutsi radicalism.”