Renovat, Ngendakuriyo

Renovat, Ngendakuriyo

Ngendakuriyo Renovat

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Interviewee Age

Born in 1958

Interviewee Gender

Male

Interviewee Level of Education in 1972

first grade of elementary school until the sixth

Geographical Location(s) during the genocide

Taba Village, the commune is Songa, the province Bururi

Current Geographical Location

Taba Village, the commune is Songa, the province Bururi

Interview Date

3-10-2022

Interviewer Name

Florence Nitunga

Summary of Oral History

Ngendakuriyo Renovat was born in 1958, in Taba village, Rukoma sub village, Songa commune and Bururi province. He studied at Rumeza from the first grade of elementary school until the sixth. In the sixth grade they sat for a national test called “Concours National”. One year he failed and  repeated the class, at the end of April, ...72, the war broke out. It became hard for him, he didn’t continue studies. He tried to go back to school but he didn’t find anyone whom they shared the same ethnic group with, they terrorized him, he felt sad and dropped out of school.

When the tragedy broke out, Renovat went together with his age mate to greet his sister who had given birth and to see her new born child, then people stopped them on the road and told them, “Don’t go, there are murderous people who attacked”. It was on April 29th, 1972, they said that war broke out in Rumonge, and they said that the invaders were called Mulele. So they didn't know it that day.

On the following day, Monday morning, they saw many people fleeing from Rumonge, saying that what was happening in Rumonge was horrible. Since that time they began arresting people and killing them. They tied their hands behind their backs and told them; “Go to justify what you did” they accused them of political issues. They went, but they did not return back. Among the people who arrested the victims were Mayogoro Joseph, Ntanguvu Bernard and another one called Ntahiraja Nestor. Rucintango Gérard arrested people on the other side of Ndago village. He herded them and passed through where Renovat and others were grazing the cows. He said to them, "Look, my children, come and see the Mulele people they have recently talked about." They saw him beating them, Renovat and his peers managed to go to beat them as he did, because they called them traitors. They were children, they found out later, only after they killed his father and came back to take away their relatives. They took away their neighbors and took away people they knew. That was the time they found out that those people were not the mulele. They realized that Hutus were targeted.

His father Sababu Oscar, was a merchant, he merchandised items. He collected firewood from their locality and transported them to Bujumbura. He worked together with his uncle called Rwasa Bonaventure. He also had a store in Manyoni in Songa commune.

In their neighboring, many persons were arrested and killed: his father Sababu Oscar; Rwasa’s uncle, Rwasa Bonaventure; Rwasa’s son who was going to get married, Nimbona Onephore; Renovat’s uncle Ntigahera Leopold; Renovat’s two cousins, Misigaro Mathias and Njenguye Patrice; Mbanyi Marc; Kirashiku; Bagora and others.

His father went down to Bujumbura and he was together with his uncle, who had a marriage ceremony for his son. He went to buy marriage ceremony items and when they got there the tragedy broke out. They didn't come back. Theirs waited for them in vain, for a month, two, three months, and then they realized that they were killed. When they arrested them, they accused them of being in complicity with the invaders, of knowing it in advance, and having supported them. Everyone who wore a watch, at that time no cell phone existed, everyone who wore a watch or had a radio at home did not survive at that time. They selected especially those whom they saw as having things.

The tragedy of...72 shocked them. Renovat and his mother  were left alone in the house, they stayed there and were scared, they became poor, they considered those people who took them away as monsters. They thought that they would also come to take them away. They got peace later after a long time. Heartbroken, they were afraid of those people because they were their neighbors.

Perpetrators also looted all their things after taking away their relatives. After all, the people who belonged to the Hutu ethnic group were not yet Hutus, they were called "traitors", so they had no right to complain about their things. In the neighborhood, they lived in desolation. In Renovat’s family they looted the cows, parcels which were at Rumonge, stores and so on.

Renovat’s wish is that they would give up ethnics divisions, they would change the name of Hutu and Tutsi, and only call them Burundians.

Named Persons

Renovat Ngendakuriyo, Sababu Oscar: his father, Rwasa Bonaventure: his father’s uncle, Ntabangana Immaculee: his mother, Ndabubaha Pierre: his grandfather, Mugemanya Rozata: his grandmother, Nimbona Onesphore, Ntigahera Leopold, Kirashiku, Bagora, Misigaro Mathias, Njenguye Patrice: persons killed during the tragedy, Rucintango Gerard, Mayogoro Joseph, Ntanguvu Bernard, Ntahiraja Nestor: tutsis who arrested hutus during the tragedy, Fumberi Jean: administrator of Matana commune in 1972,

Named Places

Matana, Songa: communes, Rumonge, Bururi: provinces, Ndago, Rumeza, Rukoma, Taba: villages

Length of Oral History

00:33:44

Language(s) of Oral History

Kirundi

Language(s) of Transcripts

Kirundi, English

Translator for Transcripts

Pasteur Niyomwungere

Field Folder Number

13

Rights

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Download Ngendakuriyo Renovat - Oral History Transcript and Translation (Kirundi and English) (341 KB)

Renovat, Ngendakuriyo

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