24 January 2008
Bujumbura — Unidentified armed persons in police uniforms killed two and wounded a child yesterday in the Teza quarter of Kamenge commune located in the northern part of the capital city Bujumbura. The incident took place at about midnight on 11th street.
The armed persons gunned down Mr. Thimothé Ngendabanka and his wife, Niyonkuru Frédiane, who died on the spot. The chief of this quarter was also killed by unidentified persons last Friday. In another development, last night in upscale quarter of Gihosha unidentified persons in military uniform wounded a person who later died in the hospital.
The measures that the security minister, Commissioner Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, announced two days ago have not stamped out the surge of violence in Burundi. Armed persons continue to kill innocent civilians despite the presence of the police. The population of Kinama has fell into a panic following fights between PALIPEHUTU-FNL supporters and demobilised combatants.
Opposition parties were dissatisfied with the security minister's measures which did not address the tasks of disarming civilians and reaching a final peace deal with PALIPEHUTU-FNL. The government of Burundi has remained silent after the ultimatum that the Tripartite Plus issued in Addis Ababa expired. In December 2005, President Nkurunziza gave PALIPEHUTU-FNL one month to join the peace process, threatening that after that period â-šthere will be no room for negotiations." PALIPEHTU-FNL defied this ultimatum. After six months, this last rebel movement announced its unconditional willingness to participate in negotiations. The two sides reached a peace agreement in September 2006 which stipulated that a Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism be set up. The activities of this commission came to a halt last year when FNL delegation members returned to the bush after being falsely accused of stealing rifles from South African peacekeeping troops.
The facilitation team, the government of Burundi and the regional initiative have given the peace process enough time to get off track. They did not react when problems arose in the implementation of the agreement with FNL.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Burundi Réalités. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
