Bubanza: two former refugees from Rwanda arrested

President Ndayishimiye’s speech begins to claim victims. Two men from the commune of Musigati and Bubanza, in the province of Bubanza (western Burundi) were arrested by the police on Monday. The concerned are former refugees in camps in Rwanda. They are members of the MSD (opposition party) accused by Gitega government of being affiliated with the Red-Tabara rebel movement backed by Kigaki according to President Neva’s speech. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Rémy Minani and Jérémie Nijimbere were arrested respectively in the commune of Bubanza and Musigati this Monday, according to witnesses. The first returned from Rwanda five months ago. Before fleeing to neighboring Rwanda, he had been in prison in Burundi. This influential member of the MSD party (Movement for Solidarity and Democracy) was apprehended by police officers who took him directly to the provincial police station in Bubanza.

The second arrested had just spent 12 years in Rwanda. A few months ago, he returned to Burundi with only one son, leaving the rest of his family in Rwanda.

“Since his return, the Imbonerakure (members of the youth league of the CNDD-FDD party) have been monitoring his movements. This Monday, they called the police who arrested him,” neighbors say. Jérémie Nijimbere is detained in a police cell in Musigati.

The homes of the two men were searched but nothing compromising was discovered, according to residents. The police have not yet communicated the reasons for their arrest.

But sources close to the matter affirm that the double arrest is linked to the speech of President Ndayishimiye who accused Rwanda last Friday of backing Red-Tabara, a Burundian armed group based in South Kivu (eastern DRC) whose recent attack in Gatumba not far from the border with Congo left 20 victims, according to the Burundian government.

In 2021, the Burundian authorities accused Alexis Sinduhije, leader of the MSD, in particular of being the founder of Red-Tabara, an armed group considered by the Burundian authorities as “a terrorist movement”.

The attacks by this armed group had been described as acts of terrorism by President Évariste Ndayishimiye himself. The party then denied the allegations, saying “terrorism is against its political philosophy.”