Mboninyeretse, Dominique
Interviewee Age
70
Interviewee Gender
Male
Interviewee Ethnicity
Hutu
Geographical Location(s) during the genocide
Gitega
Interview Date
2025
Summary of Oral History
Dominique Mboninyeretse hid behind a tree-lined mountain and watched tractors unload dead bodies into a hole outside Gitega. Mboninyeretse said he witnessed this pattern for days until he finally saw live prisoners get off one of the tractors. The militia forced the prisoners to sit on top of the piles of dead bodies to wait for their turn to be executed. Mboninyeretse said the soldiers lined prisoners up in groups of ten, tied them together by whatever existing limbs they had left after being tortured, and then shot them to death. Nearly five decades after the killings, Mboninyeretse led the Truth and Reconciliation Committee exactly where he saw his family and neighbors get slaughtered. He helped exhume their bodies and has planted trees to memorialize those lost in the 1972 Genocide of Burundi. Each tree he planted symbolizes the resiliency and strength of the Burundian people.
Rights
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Recommended Citation
Mboninyeretse, Dominique, "Mboninyeretse, Dominique" (2025). 1972 Burundi Genocide – Oral Histories. 59.
https://neiudc.neiu.edu/burundi-oral-histories/59
