Burundi : two opponents kidnapped and detained in an undisclosed location

Agnès Nibirantije and Jacqueline Uwizeye were respectively kidnapped last Sunday and on Wednesday evening. The first is the representative of the women’s league of the CNL party in Kayanza (northern Burundi) while the second happens to be the provincial leader of this party in the province of Buhumuza (according to the new territorial structure). It includes the provinces of Muyinga, Cankuzo and Ruyigi (northeast). The perpetrators of the double kidnapping were identified as agents of the National Intelligence Service (SNR). INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Agnès Nibirantije was arrested while she was in the town center of Ngozi province (north) last Sunday. She wanted to participate in an extraordinary congress which had been organized by opponents of Agathon Rwasa, traditional CNL leader.

“Close to Agathon Rwasa, she went to Ngozi despite not being invited to participate in the congress which overthrew Rwasa. The other members with whom she was were released, but she remains held by the intelligence services”, say those close to her. They speak of a kidnapping, especially since her place of detention has not yet been communicated to her family, and neither is the reason for her detention.

And on Wednesday, it was Jacqueline Uwizeye who was kidnapped. The incident took place in the district of Giteranyi in the province of Muyinga.

“She was returning from her teaching job. A van belonging to the provincial intelligence official came at full speed behind the motorcycle carrying Uwizeye. Ordered to stop, the biker obeyed. Intelligence agents then forced the lady into their vehicle”, say witnesses who even identified the vehicle’s license plate : E0535A.

According to relatives of the two women, the intelligence service took them to Bujumbura, the commercial capital where its main cells and offices are located.

“We were told that they would be held in the worst intelligence dungeons very close to the Regina Mundi Cathedral. We are worried about their safety,” they lament.

They demand their release.

The spokesperson for the ministry in charge of security, who serves as a communicator for Burundian intelligence, has not yet commented on this double kidnapping.