23 January 2008
Bujumbura — Action Contre la Faim has decided to suspend its activities in Burundi following the killing of one of its workers in Ruyigi province on 31 December 2007. This NGO had temporary closed its doors in Burundi previously. Action Contre la Faim believes its workers are not sufficiently safe enough to continue their activities in Burundi and considers the killing of Agnès Bury to be premeditated.
This decision of the A.C.F. comes as a harsh blow to the government of Burundi. In the wake of the killing of Agnès Bury, the interim spokesman for the government of Burundi, Mr. Jérome Ndiho, implored all humanitarian agencies to continue supporting the population of Burundi. He added that if NGOs suspend their activities it would be tantamount to allowing those who killed Agnès Bury to win.
The government will now have to support the thousands of people in various provinces of Burundi whom A.C.F. was providing with aide. This humanitarian agency distributed seeds and fertilizer to the people of Burundi and brought assistance to the very poor who are in dire need of food.
The search to catch those bearing responsibilities for the killing of Agnès Bury still continues and has led to the arrest of three groups of people. The first group is made up of people who are suspected of having participating in the killing of the French aid worker; the second group is made up of people whom the police caught possessing illegally arms during their cordon-search operation and the third group includes people that the police recently arrested in connection with the assault against the governor of Ruyigi. These investigations have also led to ethnic suspicion in Ruyigi. The Interior minister, Venant Kamana, recently cast blame on intellectuals from other provinces who work in Ruyigi for fuelling ethnic suspicion that would lead the international community to label this province as Zone 4, an area in which they cannot work.
There is still no solid evidence confirming that the assault that targeted the governor of Ruyigi was not a mere fabrication. Many people in Ruyigi believe a political cause lies behind the killing of Agnès Bury. The believe that this killing was carried out to delay the opening of Rema hospital which was built by Ms Marguerite Barankitse, the founder of Maison Shalom and an international peace award nominee.
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