Two pro-government civil society organizations in Burundi have accused France of conspiring against the Pierre Nkurunziza regime under the CNDD-FDD party.
According to CAPES+ and PISC Burundi, by convincing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2303, France is pushing for the adoption of a unity government in order to shield Belgium from being held accountable for the social-political glitches faced by Burundi since the attainment of Independence in 1960.
On July 29 this year, the UNSC adopted Resolution 2303 authorising the deployment of 228 UN peacekeeping police, something Nkurunziza’s government has vehemently opposed.
“This UNSC resolution seeks to overthrow the current Burundi institutions democratically elected and destroy the ruling CNDD-FDD party that set up a democratic government and restored peace and security throughout Burundi,” Hamza Burikukiye, the chairman of CAPES+, was quoted as saying.
The two CSOs claim the aim of the Resolution ‘was to protect Belgium from being investigated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) that resulted from the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement. The latter was signed in 2000 and ended 12 years of civil war and cycles of massacres, including genocide, since Burundi independence in 1960’.
CAPES+ and PISC Burundi also urged other civil society organizations to join them in the protest against France through a one day campaign against the use of the French language on the 29th of every month, the date on which the resolution 2303 was approved.
According to Burikukiye, the 1994 Rwandan genocide was committed in the presence of French peacekeepers on the Rwandan territory, adding that deploying 228 UN police officers proposed by France in Burundi will allow France to commit genocide against ‘Burundian institutions’. ‘One can wonder if those UN troops expected to be deployed in Burundi will be necessarily composed of French citizens,’ he wondered and urged ‘those who want to support them in the fight for democracy and the sovereignty of Burundi’ to go to their office for registration.
