On Saturday, September 25, 2021, CVR ( Truth and Reconciliation Commission) proceeded to the provisional closure of the exhumation work of mass graves and the hearings of victims of massive human rights violations observed in 1972 in Mwaro province. Among the high authorities present at these ceremonies, the first deputy speaker of the Burundian senate as well as the second deputy speaker of the National Assembly.
Willy Ntakarutimana
Gisozi commune, Gisozi zone, Nyamiyaga hill, Banda sub-hill, commonly called Gitara. In this place, a forest of aucaria and pinus trees. This is where the ceremonies took place. In 1972, this place housed the communal office and the dungeon.In short, a center for the assembly and execution of victims.
These victims were then killed and thrown into this forest of aucaria, « urukariha » in Kirundi to these forest trees. The mass graves had been dug by the population on the orders of the administration.
8 mass graves have been confirmed in this forest. The number of victims exhumed throughout Mwaro province is 1093. These victims came from the communes of Gisozi, Bisoro, Kayokwe and Makamba, currently Rusaka.
All this information was given thanks to the good collaboration between the Commission and the witnesses contacted, has said Gasanzwe Gaspard, the governor of the province of Mwaro.
According to him, since the Commission came to work in this province, awareness sessions have been conducted with the population so that this work goes well.
This provincial authority congratulates the people who gave information to the CVR and invites them to always stay close to the Commission in order to collect enough information to clarify the truth about the 1972 crisis.
For the President of CVR, Amb. Pierre Claver Ndayicariye, forgiveness is one of the scales necessary for Burundians to be reconciled.
Thus, continues Ndayicariye , far from stirring up the rot of the past as some think, the work of the Commission rather invites the alleged perpetrators to take a step in the process of asking for forgiveness.
Ambassador Pierre Claver Ndayicariye congratulates the people who have already confessed to having participated in these killings of 1972 by administrative order, in particular the « JRR »
Consider asking forgiveness and handing over other people’s property.
The President of CVR invited the alleged perpetrators of this crisis who are still alive, to ask forgiveness so that their offspring are not accused of abominations they did not commit.
However, he once again calls on the people who looted or stole the property of others during this crisis, and in particular real estate, to think about handing them over to the beneficiaries because this property does not belong to them.
For the first deputy speaker of the Senate of Burundi, Hon. Denise Ndadaye, the work carried out by CVR is part of one of the responses to the requests of the survivors of this crisis.
Thus, continues this authority, to support this work, the Senate has already organized 5 conferences on the events of 1972 so that the truth is clarified, so that the witnesses can shed light in order to really determine the qualification of this crime.
