1972 Events In Burundi Described As Genocide

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which presented its progress report to the Burundian parliament in congress on December 20, described one of the worst episodes of inter-ethnic massacres in the country, which began at the end of April 1972, as “the genocide against the Hutus of 1972 and 1973.

The Hutus are now in power. A qualification that was endorsed, by acclamation, by both houses of the Burundian parliament.

Established in 2014, Burundi’s highly contested TRC had the daunting task of investigating crimes committed in that country from the Berlin Conference of 1885 to the end of the civil war in 2008. But the TRC focused its investigation on this dark period.

The report presented to the parliament in congress is rather voluminous. More than 5,000 pages that summarize years of investigation focused exclusively on what Burundians used to call “the events of ’72.

This date corresponds to one of the worst episodes of inter-ethnic massacres in the country.

For the Collective of Survivors and Victims of this crisis, it is a breath of relief, while for other Burundians it was a disappointing outcome.

François-Xavier Nsabimana, president of the Collective of Survivors and Victims said the feeling of satisfaction was not complete, moreso since this is only a step, which has shed light on an event that had been hidden for a long time.

The 1972 crisis began on the 29th of April in Rumonge, in the south of the country, with targeted attacks against the Tutsis.

Indiscriminate repression against the Hutus, the majority ethnic group, followed at the national level under the 1st Republic led by Michel Micombero.