8 November 2007
Bujumbura — Eight persons have been killed in Busoni and Ntega communes over the two last days. These persons were accused of being sorcerers. Four of the victims are from Ntega commune of the province of Kirundo.
These killings follow the murder of Patrick Nkurunziza on 11 October. Nkurunziza was a former chief of the district of Gatare in the commune of Busoni.
The police and the army failed to rescue him when he was attacked by armed persons. This has caused ethnic suspicion that has caused more than 50 persons of the Tutsi ethnic group to flee to Rwanda.
Most of those who fled are returnees who have been living in the internal displaced camps that were set up in 1993 after the murder of Melchior Ndadaye.
Authorities of the province of Kirundo have downplayed the threat that is posed by this escalation of violence. The governor of Kirundo, who is participating in meeting of the Nile Basin organisation, has not yet come back to calm his constituency.
Ntega is one of the communes which were affected by the events of 1988 in which many people were killed. The current escalation of violence augurs social unrest in incubation on the eve of the setting up of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Tribunal for Burundi.
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