Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2005 - Burundi

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2005 - Burundi, 22 March 2006, https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/ifhr/2006/en/60027 [accessed 13 November 2025]
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Attacks against several members of CIRID1

In January 2005, a senior official of the Muramvya province, belonging to a former rebel movement, publicly threatened Mr. Déo Hakizimana, president of the Independent Centre for Research and Initiatives for Dialogue (Centre indépendant de recherches et d'initiatives pour le dialogue – CIRID), while he was chairing a CIRID meeting on mine-clearing. A Bujumbura officer also declared that the case of Mr. Hakizimana "could easily be dealt with".

Furthermore, in February 2005, Mrs. Françoise Niyonzima, Mr. Hakizimana's assistant, was physically assaulted by a member of the armed forces from the Bujumbura Officers' Training College while sitting in a café close to her home. She required substantial medical treatment, and for a week was unable to work. The soldier apparently acted in the framework of a group of political agitators belonging to the party of the former President, Mr. Jean-Baptiste Bagaza. The main leader of the group, also owner of the café, was arrested by the police. Mrs. Niyonzima lodged a complaint, and the case was dealt with the Bujumbura Police Commander, Mr. Wakana; it was then transferred to the Bujumbura Public Prosecutor's office. By the end of 2005, the case was still pending.

In addition, on 26 April 2005, Mr. Déo Hakizimana's residence was fired on from several directions while the main members of his organisation, whom he had invited to his home, were in the garden. After a pause, a mortar shell fell on the windscreen of Mr. Hakizimana's car, destroying it completely. The attack might have been perpetrated by people who wanted to take advantage of the confusion caused by the initial firing, attributed to the National Liberation Forces (Forces nationales de libération – FNL, a rebel movement).

Mr. Déo Hakizimana received several pieces of shrapnel, including some in the right thigh, and Mrs. Françoise Niyonzima was severely injured, as was Ms. Edith Ndimurwanko, CIRID accountant. By the end of 2005, no enquiry had been initiated into these events.

In the past, CIRID had received threats several times, in particular in December 2004, following a vast campaign against anti-personnel mines in Burundi, organised with the help of UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) and the Swiss mine-clearing Foundation.

1. See Independent Centre for Research and Initiatives for Dialogue (CIRID).

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