The UN commission of inquiry has recently released a report about human rights violations in Burundi. The lower and upper chambers of parliament reject the report saying it is fallacious.
Burundi parliament dismisses the UN commission of inquiry report.
Pascal Nyabenda, Speaker of the National Assembly says those who made the report have their own interests and have never amended the report which was produced since 2015. He wonders why the UN is more concerned about 2015 crisis while it has never intervened in the previous crises that Burundi experienced. “In 1961, the independence hero was killed. In 1972, there were mass killings in the country. In 1993, the hero of democracy was assassinated, etc. Why was the UN commission of inquiry set up after the 2015 political crisis?” He wonders adding that this shows that there are people behind this commission that gives false information to tarnish the image of the country.
Révérien Ndikuriyo, Speaker of the Senate, says those UN experts are manipulated by those who have staged a failed coup in 2015. “Those experts are perpetrators of the failed coup with UN uniform”.
Although parliamentarians from the ruling party agree that the report is false and that they should come together to reject it, those from the opposition call on the government of Burundi to analyze the accusations and make some change if need be.
Agathon Rwasa, leader of Amizero y’Abarundi coalition, says there is a need to improve the situation more even if he recognizes that the situation has improved since 2015.
Fabien Banciryanino, says Burundi should not keep on rejecting reports without assessing the current situation and correct what is not going well. “There are cases of disappearances which are still reported. There are prisoners who have served their sentence but are still kept in jail. Some people are still persecuted in different communes of the country. These are accusations that should be prevented”.
Mr.Banciryanino calls on the government of Burundi to make sure all people are safe. “Some people, once they are in other countries, seek asylum. The recent case of Burundian drummers is one among other examples. The government has to protect citizens and make them proud of their country. Otherwise, there will always be accusations”.
The Ministers of the Interior, Justice and Human Rights who were in this plenary session which was held in Kigobe Congress Hall this Tuesday September 11th, 2018, have said the report was fallacious.
They will represent Burundi government in Geneva during the interactive dialogue while the UN commission of inquiry will be submitting its full report on Burundi on September 17th, 2018.
IWACU Open Data
