Ngabo, Léonce

Interviewee

Léonce Ngabo

Interviewee Age

Born in 1951, age 73

Interviewee Gender

Male

Interviewee Ethnicity

Tutsi

Interviewee Occupation

Filmmaker

Interviewee Level of Education in 1972

Senior student in Don Bosco high school.

Geographical Location(s) during the genocide

Burundi, Don Bosco high school, Ngozi province

Current Geographical Location

Burundi, Bujumbura municipality

Interview Date

12-18-2023

Interviewer Name

Center for Genocide and Human Rights Research in Africa and the Diaspora (GHRAD) Research Team

Summary of Oral History

During the 1972 tragedy, Léonce Ngabo was a senior student in teacher training school, Don Bosco high school located in Ngozi. On April 29^th, rumors were spread, coup d’Etat attempt perpetrated by King NtareV. After a while another rumor said the Hutus attempted to kill the Tutsi. Some of their teachers who were Hutus disappeared in the first days of May. Some were arrested from the school, others from the house they lived in. After a few days, they came to take the first Hutu students, mainly in the 2^nd degree, the two or three ending classes. But they did not know exactly what was happening. In the evening at night, they were hearing a big noise of bumps and they didn’t know what was happening. On the eighteenth of May, he was in the classroom, studying mathematics. So there came the principal of their school, he was a priest, white Salesian priest. He came into their class with a list and he started to call some names. He called nine students and among them Ngabo Léonce heard his name. He told them that they were being taken to the justice court of Ngozi to give testimonies about the first group of students arrested before. They were packed in the vehicle “peugeot” but he saw that the peugeot went, crossed the justice court and went far up to the prison of Ngozi. When they arrived at the prison of Ngozi, one voice of the policeman shouted “Hey guys, come out, everyone and hands up” When he came out he got a serious slap. They were put into the prison and the policemen as well as the guardians forced them to line up and to take off everything they had. One of them When Ngabo wanted to take off his shoes, his shirt and his watch, another voice shouted: “ Who is Léonce Ngabo?” He said, “I’m here”. “Ok, quit the line and come in”. He quit the line and they took him to a small office to be interrogated, he still saw what was happening to the eight other classmates. He saw through the window his companions naked, lying down and the policemen and the guardians were beating them with the big sticks resembled to those used in kitchen to prepare the lunch. After getting known that he belongs to a Tutsi ethnic group, they definitely released him and they told him not to say anything. He was the only one to escape the tragedy. His fellow classmates perished. Since then every 18th, me, every year, he celebrates his new life.

Named Persons

Salesian - a congregation of white priests owned Don Bosco high school, André - one of his classmates killed in the 1972 tragedy

Named Places

Kamenge native village of Léonce Ngabo (it is like a suburb of Center of town and it’s in Bujumbura province and municipality), Burengo Hill - a location of his school Don Bosco, Prince Regent Charles - a hospital where blood of Hutu people was taken because that period the forties or the fifties Belgians were making some research to see what criteria which they can use to distinguish Hutus and Tutsis

Length of Oral History

00:11:32

Language(s) of Oral History

English

Language(s) of Transcripts

English

Translator for Transcripts

Transcriber: Pasteur Niyomwungere

Rights

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Recommended Citation

Ngabo, Léonce, "Ngabo, Léonce" (2023). 1972 Burundi Genocide – Oral Histories. 35.
https://neiudc.neiu.edu/burundi-oral-histories/35

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