Macumi, François

Macumi, François

François Macumi

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Interviewee Age

69

Interviewee Gender

Male

Interviewee Occupation

Farmer

Geographical Location(s) during the genocide

Kabuye village, commune Vumbi, Muyinga province

Current Geographical Location

Kabuye village, commune Vumbi, Kirundo Province

Interview Date

2-25-2022

Interviewer Name

Philippe Mukamarakiza

Summary of Oral History

Macumi Francois was born in 1953 in Kabuye village, Kamihigo subvillage, Vumbi commune, Kirundo province. In 1972, he lost his beloved brother who raised him. He lived in his house because his father had married another wife and had left his mother. His brother clothed him, fed him like his parents. The day they came to take him away, he hid himself in the upper shelter built in the house below the stove, so they burned the red pepper which made him flee from there, so they picked up him, he never returned back.

According to Francois, the 1972 tragedy targeted people of a given ethnic group. During that period, local leaders, policemen, JRR members and other tutsis took away hutus, put them in prison and killed them. He said that most targeted people were hutus who had conflicts with local leaders or with other tutsis, and teachers. They accused them of being too many. When they took them away, you couldn’t cry, you couldn’t mourn, you couldn’t say anything, in order not to be considered as evil doers complicit.

His brother had had conflict with a certain tutsi, so they convoked him the following day. When he went there he was imprisoned for about three days, they released him, followed him, called him back telling him that there was something he had forgotten, and then they killed him. His family members never saw him again; they realized that he underwent what happened to other people, as such things were happening around them.

After some days, they persecuted the interviewee, the local leader protected him and advised him not to go to answer that convocation, they accused him that he wanted to avenge his brother, which was not true, that was pretext to kill him. His sister in law who was left by his brother became foolish because of problems that happened to her, she was downhearted, she was put in jail because of that foolishness and she finally died after three years, but she had returned home. She left two orphans who were sustained by their grandmother and family members.

The interviewee affirms that it was a very sorrowful period and that oppression went on even in 1973, they were sent to clear forest at Murehe, where they saw sorrowful past events, burned houses, empty houses and areas where people had fled from.

Named Persons

Damiyano Bantanze: his father, Karura Maria: mother, Nteturuye: his brother who was killed, Ntambara: the counselor their local leader in 1972, Rwantabano: commissioner

Named Places

Murehe: where they went to clear forest to hunt invaders

Length of Oral History

00:34:05

Language(s) of Oral History

Kirundi

Language(s) of Transcripts

Kirundi, English

Translator for Transcripts

Pasteur Niyomwungere

Rights

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Download François Macumi - Oral History Transcript and Translation (Kirundi and English).pdf (578 KB)

Macumi, François

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