2 August 2007
Bujumbura — The recruitment of officers at the Higher Military Institute (ISCAM) resulted in protests after 17 laureates who passed the entrance exam for the academic year 2007-2008 were excluded to ensure ethnic, regional and gender balances in the National Defence Forces.
More than 50 laureates were selected nationwide at the first stage. The majority of them were from Bururi province. But after regional, ethnic parameters were applied 17 laureates were excluded although they had very good marks on the ground that they were from provinces where most of the soldiers originate. Among the 17 laureates, 13 are from Bururi province, 2 are from Mwaro provinces, and other 2 are from Rural Bujumbura province.
The Minister of Defence and Former Combatants, Lieutenant-General Germain NIYOYANKANA explains that they took into consideration the 255th article of the Constitution which stipulates that the government has the duty to set up a policy of pertinent reforms in the areas of defence and security, which reinforces cohesion and unity between Burundians, in insuring the necessary ethnic, regional and gender balances. â-šThe majority of those who passed the exam were from Bururi and even now the large number of those who were selected are from Bururi," the Defence Minister recognizes, â-šbut our major constraint is the constitution in its article 255, he continues. â-šWe were obliged to classify the students on the ground of their native regions and then on basis of their ethnic background in the spirit of the constitution, and we also took into consideration the gender factor, and the result is the consequence of what was not rejected in the Constitution and as long as it is not changed, no one should be blamed, as we have to follow strictly what it stipulates," concludes the Minister of Defence and Former Combatants.
The Burundian army has been blamed for many crimes during more than 3 decades of military rule during which three seniors officers from Bururi presided to the destiny of the country until 1993 when the first democratically elected President, Melchior NDADAYE, was brutally killed by a Tutsi-dominated army sparking killings which claimed lives of more than 300,000 people nationwide.
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