Cibitoke: more than 100 families expropriated from their land in Rugombo

A hundred households in the Mbaza-Miduha sub-hill, Rukana II hill in the commune of Rugombo, in the province of Cibitoke (North-West of Burundi) say they have been expropriated from their land. They point the finger at the provincial administration for having promised these lands to senior dignitaries affiliated with the CNDD-FDD party. The governor believes that these lands belong to the state. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

At least 110 households settled on more than 80 hectares have just been driven from their land on the Mbaza-Miduha sub-hill.

According to local sources, Imbonerakure (members of the youth league of the CNDD-FDD presidential party) have landed in impressive numbers for a week and have summoned all the inhabitants of this locality to vacate the premises without any other form of trial.

“These young people from the presidential party told us that we are occupying land belonging to the state and that we have no right to reside there,” explained an octogenarian met on the spot.

According to residents, “it is quite simply a pure and simple expropriation for reasons not of public utility.
These lands recovered by the State are reallocated to the civil and military dignitaries of the CNDD-FDD”.

A high-ranking source indicates that more than 100 hectares of the same locality had been given to relatives of the CNDD-FDD at the very beginning of this year.

Some occupants of Mbaza-Miduha have been established there for more than a century. Others have legal access to these lands and have land titles.

Dispossessed families, ask the competent authorities to “enforce our rights to the lands of our ancestors”.

The governor of Cibitoke confirms that the lands of Mbaza-Miduha are in the public domain and that the State is in the process of recovering its lands. And when asked why these lands are granted to those close to the presidential party and to certain public service officials to the detriment of their occupants, Carême Bizoza preferred not to comment.