Bujumbura attack : Burundian authorities took official stock and accused Rwanda again

After Friday’s early evening grenade attack on a public transport bus parking lot in the commercial city Bujumbura, Burundian authorities reported 38 injured, including 5 seriously. A spokesperson for the ministry in charge of security, who reported the damage, accused Rwanda and the famous Burundian activist Pacifique Nininahazwe of being behind the grenade attacks in recent days. Pierre Nkurikiye also confirmed our information on the machines placed in electrical cabins on April 24. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The communication took place within the premises of the National Intelligence Service (SNR) in the commercial capital on Saturday. Six suspects are detained there.

“In recent days, security forces have observed, you too, together we have observed cases of terrorism mainly by throwing grenades and attempts to destroy electrical equipment,” Pierre Nkurikiye told the press before continuing his communication.

He drew up an official report of 38 people injured, including 5 seriously.

“[….] A terrorist threw a grenade at a crowd waiting for buses to go back home and there were immediately 38 people who were injured, including 5 seriously. All these people were evacuated to healthcare facilities. There were no deaths,” he said.

Pierre Nkurikiye returned to another grenade attack which cost the life of a person in the Kamenge area, in the north of the commercial capital.

This spokesperson for the ministry in charge of security also confirmed our information on the devices placed in electrical cabins on the night of April 24.

Rwanda and Pacifique Nininahazwe, eternal scapegoats

According to Pierre Nkurikiye who cites the investigations of “specialized technical services”, “these terrorists are recruited and trained, even equipped with weapons in Rwanda by Rwanda and then sent to the Red-Tabara terrorist group to be close to the borders of Burundi. And Afterwards they enter the territory of Burundi. They are welcomed, hosted and protected by certain people.

And to lengthen the list of allegations without providing evidence or accepting questions from journalists.

“The one who welcomed the first terrorist, when the police were preparing to apprehend him, he wrote a message to a certain Pacifique Nininahazwe to tell him : ‘I am being arrested, so you will have to speak for me.. ..You see that he continues to help, support, send people who come to commit acts of terrorism here.”

Accomplices

House owners are ordered by the Burundian authorities to “know the real activity of their tenants”.

“If a tenant commits an act of terrorism while the owner of the house has not alerted the administration and the security forces, he will answer before the investigators and will be considered an accomplice,” threatened Mr. Nkurikiye.

Uncommunicated arrests

On Saturday morning, several people were arrested in the Cibitoke neighborhood and zone north of Bujumbura between the 1st and 5th avenues and taken to the zone office.

“The police were targeting young people. They selected several of them and gathered them in the zone. They forced them to sit on the ground on a basketball field with a lot of verbal threats. They said they wanted to reassure themselves that they are all registered in the household notebook, some have been released,” said residents contacted by SOS Médias Burundi.

Our sources were unable to give us the exact number of people who remained in detention. The spokesperson for the ministry in charge of security known for his zeal said nothing about these arrests, just like those which took place Friday evening in the city center in the freshness of the attack.

The famous Burundian activist Pacifique Nininahazwe in exile today and a spokesperson for the Rwandan government were not available to react to the Burundian authorities’ accusations.

But Rwanda has always brushed aside such allegations, describing the statements of the Burundian authorities as “lies”, which Alain Mukularinda, deputy spokesperson for the Rwandan government, recently reiterated to SOS Médias Burundi. It was about six Burundian organizations that complained to the East African Court of Justice against Rwanda. Pacifique Nininahazwe has also often denounced Burundian government allegations and talked about the instrumentalization of State services including the police and the justice.