Agathon Rwasa rejects accusations of stealing FNL party

After Rwasa has submitted the demand for agreement of his new political party to the Ministry of the Interior, Jacques Bigirimana, chairman of FNL accuses him of stealing his party. Rwasa dismisses the accusations.

Agathon Rwasa: “FNL Amizero y’Abarundi is different from FNL party.”

Agathon Rwasa, First Deputy Speaker and leader of Amizero y’Abarundi opposition coalition, says the name of the party in process of being created is different from that of the existing party. “FNL Amizero y’Abarundi is different from FNL,” he says adding that a party is more than the acronyms that make its name.

Mr. Rwasa says the colors can still be shared by different political parties but that does not mean that a given party is stolen. “Nobody invented colors, there are there and can be used by anyone who wants. There are examples of flags that have the same colors namely the Burundian flag and that of Algerian or France, that of The Netherlands and Russia, …However, they have never fought over this,” he said adding that his party’s vision is different from that of the existing FNL party.

He calls on the chairman of FNL to respect other’s opinions and choice and continue with his politics if he wishes to. “Politics is not insulting others. I ask the FNL chairman to go on with his politics and stop insulting me. He should learn to respect others and their opinions,’’ said Rwasa.

Rwasa wonders where Bigirimana has got all the “unverified accusations” as he has not yet made public the documents for the new political party. “The documents were submitted to the Ministry of the Interior. They are not yet shown to the public”.
At a press conference held this Monday 24, Jacques Bigirimana, FNL chairman, said that he was going to address a correspondence to the Minister of the Interior asking him not to approve the new party because Rwasa has violated rules and stolen another existing party.
The existing FNL stands for National Liberation Forces while the FNL party seeking to be approved stands for National Front for Liberty-Amizero y’Abarundi.