http://www.fdu-rwanda.com/en/
OCTOBER 20, 2014
FDU-INKINGI
calls upon the international community to order an independent
international investigation into the recent discovery of bodies wrapped
in plastic sacks floating in the Lake Rweru in the north-eastern Burundi
bordering Rwanda. Local residents have said that they had seen around
45 bodies during the months of July and August 2014 in the lake. They
revealed that the bodies came down from a tributary river flowing from
Rwanda, an overflow from the Akagera River. It was also revealed that
thousands of bodies wrapped in sacks with heavy weights attached to them
could have been thrown into the Akagera River and might never be
recovered.
The
allegations are based on the fact that thousands of people have
disappeared in Rwanda since the beginning of July this year according to
local residents who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of Rwandan
government reprisals. Contacted authorities in Burundi expressed fears
for pointing a finger at their powerful neighbour Rwanda. Suspicions
aimed at finger pointing the Rwandan government were heightened
following an incident in which an unidentified group of people “aboard
several boats”, crossed the Lake Rweru on the night of September 21 to
22, with intent to steal the bodies. The group suspected to be Rwandan
security agents, were chased away by Burundi security services [1].
Since then the Burundi army is guarding the area where some of the
bodies were buried while awaiting for an investigation.
This
horrendous discovery comes in the aftermath of a warning made in
Nyabihu District, northern Rwanda, on the 5th of June this year 2014 by
President Kagame against those suspected of threatening state security.
In his public address, General Kagame ridiculed external condemnations
of arbitrary arrests, detentions and enforced disappearances in Rwanda
and declared that security agents would not only continue such arrests
but also make a further step and shoot suspects in broad daylight.
The
latest discovery of bodies wrapped in sacks after execution and thrown
into Lake Rweru and which has drawn public outcry is but a tip of an
iceberg.
Indeed,
on June 2nd, authorities in the Ministry of Local Government reported
that 16,000 people have disappeared in the district of Ngororero [2]. On
July 30, 2014, the Hirondelle News Agency reported the disappearance of
30,000 Rwandans sentenced to community service [3].
While
we praise the US government for its” urgent call on the Burundian and
Rwandan Governments to conduct a prompt, thorough, impartial and
concerted investigation of these deaths with the assistance of
independent, international forensic experts”, we join the FIDH [4] plea
for a totally independent investigation as there is a conflict of
interest in allowing Rwanda and Burundi governments to lead on such an
independent investigation.
Indeed,
even though Rwanda continues to deny its responsibility in those
deaths, on October 14, Reuters in Bujumbura reported: “The general
prosecutor of Burundi said on Tuesday that an investigation into 40
bodies found in a lake on the border with Rwanda has concluded that the
dead were Rwandans, even though Rwanda has previously denied this.”[5]
It
is mind blowing to witness that the international community continues
to turn a blind eye and that some countries maintain political,
diplomatic and financial support to a regime that has proved to be a
killing machine.
FDU-Inkingi
would like to remind the international community that the impunity
status quo given to the repressive regime in Rwanda could slowly but
surely lead to another humanitarian disaster in Rwanda and in the whole
Great Lakes region.
Done in Brussels, on October 20, 2014
FDU-Inkingi
Joseph Bukeye
2nd Vice-Chairman
Joseph Bukeye
2nd Vice-Chairman
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