Nimpaye, Ronjino

Nimpaye, Ronjino

Ronjino Nimpaye

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Interviewee Age

Born in 1954

Interviewee Gender

Male

Geographical Location(s) during the genocide

Muzamba Village, the commune was Gitandu, Songa zone, the province Bururi

Current Geographical Location

Muzamba Village, the commune is Songa, the province Bururi

Interview Date

3-7-2022

Interviewer Name

Florence Nitunga

Summary of Oral History

When the crisis began, Longin was at Songa. At the beginning they said that they were the strange people from Rumonge. Very short with big noses with marks on their bodies walking with machetes. They were called May Mulele. The authorities told people to go to fight against them. After that, they were together, Hutus and Tutsi, in a good relationship. On April 29th their father Hutu and Tutsi all neighbors said let’s go fight against those Mai mulele.  They began to do the patrols. On the following day they said let’s check people who have marks on their bodies. Then the Tutsi began taking away Hutus. Those who were arrested were taken to the zone where they were tied up, beaten, imprisoned, and later killed. The dead bodies were then dumped in pits dug near the zone office. The mass graves were recently exhumed, the family members of Longin showed them the location of those mass graves. To arrest them, the perpetrators told the victims to go to the chief of the zone to be interrogated and come back but they did not come back. Their Families waited for them to come back in vain, they had disappeared.

They killed the father of Ronjino after they called him to the zone. When he arrived at the zone, the zone chief, Barinzigo Yohani, hit him in the neck with a machete, they beat him, stripped him of his clothes and put him in jail. Later, they saw his clothes worn by a police officer named Makobero Patrice. Ronjino does not know where they buried his father because a truck came from Matana commune packed the dead bodies and transported them away. They do not know where they dumped them.

The next day they came home to loot the victims' belongings, namely pots and pans, rice, beans, clothes that he had not taken to the market because that was what he was selling. A neighbor named Gasiyano came with other soldiers to loot the house. In the evening after they were robbed, they told them that they were going to burn their house and because they were Mai mulele, that day they spent the night in the forest. They also took away the machine they had at home and what his father sold in the Manyoni business center, at the market. In 1993 there was also a civil war and some people who had killed his father came back to loot again what they had in the house. Even the machine Ronjino bought later was taken away again. They also killed his brother who was at Bujumbura; he was killed together with another person called Ntitanguranwa Marcel. They killed them from Pagdas[a tourist place in Bujumbura downtown] because Ntitanguranwa was studied in Russia. They also lost many of their Hutu neighbors; they were killed in the same tragedy. And those they lost did not bury or organize a mourning period.

Named Persons

Nimpaye Longin his parents are Sahiri Celestin and Buhore Anastasie, His siblings are Itangishaka Anselme and Ntitanguranwa Marcel - Viator the son of Ntitanguranwa, grandparents of Longin are Muhwenya and Madelene Bendankeha, Gakuba - a Rwandan - shows the Tutsi how to tie up the Hutus, Vital Basabose and Baramerereje Aloys perpetrators who were among the people who arrested Ronjino’s father and took them to the zone, They also arrested someone called Ronsiyo, The zone chief was called Barinzigo John, Makobero Patrice - who wore the clothes of the father of Longin.

Named Places

Muzamba the village, Songa the commune, Bururi the province, Rumeza the urban center. Bujumbura the capital of Burundi, Russia. Bukeye the village, Rumonge the province. Murembwe the river. Matana the commune of Bururi province. ETS Kamenge the school, Manyoni the village

Length of Oral History

00:39:13

Language(s) of Oral History

Kirundi

Language(s) of Transcripts

Kirundi, English

Translator for Transcripts

Translator: Pasteur Niyomwungere, Transcriber: Sylvane Ndihokubwayo

Field Folder Number

100

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT - EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Download Ronjino Nimpaye - Oral History Transcript and Translation (Kirundi and English) (425 KB)

Nimpaye, Ronjino

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