Ngozi: six opponents in detention

Six members from the opposition CNL party have been detained in a police cell in Ngozi (northern Burundi) since last Saturday. They were arrested in Gatika village in the Rukeco zone of Busiga district (Ngozi province) the same day. The Imbonerakure and police officers who arrested them accuse them of having held an illegal meeting, which those concerned and their relatives reject. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to local sources, the six opponents were arrested in the middle of a meeting.

“They were surprised by Imbonerakure and police officers. They arrested them on the spot before taking them to the Rukeco zone cell. They were accused of holding a meeting of the CNL party of which they are members, without authorization”, says a resident.

Those concerned and their relatives reject this allegation. They explain that they were holding a meeting of their association. According to witnesses, the detainees even showed the Imbonerakure (members of the CNDD-FDD youth league) and police officers who arrested them a notebook in which the points on the agenda were mentioned, to no avail.

“They were not able to convince the agents and young people of the CNDD-FDD”, lament relatives of the detainees who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi. After a few hours, the provincial police commissioner Bonfort Ndoreraho collected them and transferred them to a police cell in the provincial town center.

CNL representatives in Ngozi demand the release of the six members unconditionally.

“It is unacceptable that members of opposition parties are arrested without valid reason while the Imbonerakure of the CNDD-FDD even arrogate to themselves the right to go on nightly rounds and manhandle opponents”, they lament.

In the Rukeco zone, residents denounce the almost total impunity enjoyed by members of the ruling party’s youth league.

“The village chief and the zone chief cannot make any decision without the approval of the local head of Imbonerakure. This is an unacceptable situation”, deplore residents who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi on Tuesday.

Last Saturday, the national headquarters of the main opposition political party in Burundi located in the north of the commercial city Bujumbura and those of Ngozi and Muyinga (northeast) were invaded by Imbonerakure, police and intelligence agents, an action the party described as “provocation”.
The party has been going through an internal crisis for several months.

At the beginning of June this year, Burundian Minister of Internal Affairs Martin Niteretse suspended all activities of the main opposition party in Burundi, explaining that he wanted to “avoid probable confrontations between CNL members.”

Agathon Rwasa, contested CNL leader, has always spoken of an “illegal and unilateral decision politically motivated to favor the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD” for which the minister is campaigning.