Bujumbura — 14 Officers studying at the Higher Military Institute (ISCAM) were dismissed on Monday 08 October. The exact reasons behind this dismissal are still unclear.

The restructuring of the National Defence Force in accordance with the provision of the Arusha peace agreement is known to be one of the causes of this dismissal.

These students will be part among officers to be demobilized soon. The Higher Military Institute indicates they were dismissed due to misconduct during training.

The ministry of defence was stained by irregularities in its entrance exam in August. Some laureates from Bururi, Mwaro and Bujumbura were rejected although they had good enough marks to meet the requirements of ethnic, regional and gender balance within the National Defence Force as required by the Constitution of the Republic. The procedures used to select students were denounced, however, as entrenching regional divisions.