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  Mboninyeretse, Dominique

  Dominique Mboninyeretse

  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.

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  Mpabonimana, Anne Marie

  Anne Marie Mpabonimana

  In 1972, after Anne Marie had finished school, her family experienced a distressing event, where they were visited by police officers and gendarmes who arrived at their home in a van. The police, including two municipal officers and an administrator, arrived at the interviewee's home and arrested Anne Marie's father and uncle, Prudence Mahobwe. They were handcuffed, tied up, and locked away in a van. This was a shocking and confusing experience for Anne Marie and her family, who were not familiar with the political context or the ethnic tensions going on at the time. Her family, including her pregnant mother and grandfather, were left in a state of fear and helplessness. They observed the police searching their home and taking money and other valuables. Despite their distress, this situation made them feel powerless to intervene or protest.

  Following the arrests, Anne Marie’s family made efforts to find out what had happened. The next day, they searched for the arrested individuals but found no trace of them. Rumors soon circulated that the situation was dire, and it became evident that the arrests were part of a broader and severe wave of violence. The family was informed that the likelihood of their relatives being alive was minimal, contributing to their distress and despair. After this tragic event, Anne Marie began to understand the ethnic conflict involving Hutus and Tutsis during this period. She heard that Hutus were being targeted and that the violence was widespread, affecting various regions. This marked a turning point in her awareness of the political and ethnic tensions in the country.

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  Mugemangabo, Angelo

  Angelo Mugemangabo

  Angelo Mugemangabo lost his brother and his relative in the 1972 tragedy. All of them belong to the Tutsi ethnic group but they were killed by Tutsis. Ruberankiko Salvator, a soldier who worked in Bujumbura was killed because the perpetrators said no Hutu lived in Kirundo. Nkundabanyanka Emmanuel was a gendarme who worked in Kirundo. Ndabaneze Laurent, a former army brigade commander, took him away because he supplied food to a Hutu man who was in Kirundo prison. Angelo Mugemangango, whether he was at home or at school, saw soldiers coming to round up Hutus like teachers or other kinds of people and took them away. But he thereafter learnt that they were massacred for they were ‘Abamenja’ traitors.

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  Mupfasoni, Elisabeth

  Elisabeth Mupfasoni

  Elisabeth Mupfasoni grew up with seven siblings. She remembers living in a peaceful community where all Burundians cared for one another, and the ethnic divide did not exist. Mupfasoni explained that she was a newlywed when the violence of the 1972 Genocide of Burundi erupted. She and her husband fled and lived with relatives for 2 months to avoid the attacks.

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  Mvuyekure, Generose

  Generose Mvuyekure

  At the age of 18, Mvuyekure saw many people brutally slaughtered during the 1972 Genocide of Burundi. Mvuyekure explained that perpetrators would cut their victims’ heads open with machetes, splitting their skulls into two butchered halves. She witnessed people who were on their way to church get lined up by militia only to be shot and killed. She recalled seeing piles of the victim’s clothing and shoes stacked up in their community. Mvuyekure said when the perpetrators killed her husband, they also stole his motorcycle. From time to time, after her husband’s death, Mvuyekure would watch her husband’s executioner ride his bike throughout the community. Now, she said she hopes the mass graves will be memorialized so future generations will not let this mass atrocity happen again.

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  Mwemerabugabo, Léonidas

  Léonidas Mwemerabugabo

  At the age of 15, Léonidas witnessed his father being taken away by authorities. The father, who was a catechist teacher, was arrested and never seen again. Léonidas’s family was informed about his fate through a radio broadcast that reported all the demonstrators and those arrested had been defeated by the authorities of Burundi in 1972.

  After his father's disappearance, life was filled with hardship for the widow and nine children left behind. The children faced persecution and bullying at school from classmates who were from a different ethnic group (Tutsi) and acted on the influence of their parents' beliefs. The interviewee and his siblings eventually had to drop out of school due to the abuse and discrimination they faced, being labeled as children of traitors.

  Despite these difficulties, their mother never remarried and took on the responsibility of caring for the family alone. Before their father's arrest, the family had a comfortable life with livestock and a well-maintained household. Although, after becoming widowed, their mother struggled to support nine children without the father's income or support.

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  Nadayishimey, Antonie

  Antonie Nadayishimey

  Nadayishimey was born amid the 1972 Genocide of Burundi and lost his father when he was just an infant. He and his four siblings grew up in devastating living conditions while members of their community told them they were “children of a traitor.” Nadayishimey said his father was a tax collector who always advocated for fairness among the people. He said his father would bring those accused of stealing before their peers for judgment rather than sending them to be executed. Because of his father’s intellectual status, he was targeted as a threat and accused of being a rebel against the government. Nadayishimey said his father was arrested and never seen alive again. Nadayishemey’s family’s home was ceased during the attack, and they were never able to reobtain ownership. Despite the emotional and physical devastation, his mother raised Ndayishemey and his siblings to forgive, forget, and focus on the future. Now, more than 50 years after this mass atrocity, Ndayishemey hopes Burundians will be able to democratically choose their leaders so they have the freedom to express themselves without fear.

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  Ndaripfane, Perajiyo

  Perajiyo Ndaripfane

  Perajiyo recounts the tragic time in Burundi in 1972, where people were rounded up and arrested by soldiers. The interviewee was at home with her husband when soldiers arrived in trucks and took him away, explaining very little about a planned plot. There was no information available concerning the husband's grave or location, despite the interviewees attempts to learn more about his demise.

  During the roundup, Perajiyo nearly escaped being arrested while at the Kabuye market. Friends alerted her and assisted in hiding her so the soldiers, who were also pillaging her house, wouldn't find her. They discovered her step-wife had been taken into custody upon their return, but soon spotted her in a local bar.

  The only person Perajiyo lost in the disaster was her husband, who was a businessman. When he was arrested, they had two kids. After that, they experienced loneliness and a lack of help; nobody came to see them or provide support. Nevertheless, they continued, deciding to endure the suffering in silence.

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  Ndarugirire, Adèle

  Adèle Ndarugirire

  Adèle Ndarugirire narrates how the massacres in 1972 occurred, describing how people by the names of Rwabaye and Maritino captured individuals from Cendajuru. The interviewee recalls that while she was cooking, her loved one was taken into custody. The Elders known as "Nyumbakumi '' were the ones who made the arrests. When asked if she knew the names of these Elders, the interviewee lists Gosito and John, among others, but says that most of them are already deceased. Adèle explains a situation where a disagreement over alcohol at a bar led to her husband's incarceration. Three people arrived and said they needed to take him with them. Adèle’s husband had previously sold alcohol, and there had been a falling out after the seller of the booze accused the husband of not making his payments. Adera’s spouse believed that he was falsely accused of claiming that Tutsis were eradicating the Hutu people during the dispute.

  The spouse was then taken to jail by the authorities, which included a man known as Mpagaceri, a councilor leader. Family members reassured him, but he never came home.

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  Ndayambaye, Patrice

  Patrice Ndayambaye

  In May of 1972, Patricie Ndayambaye said she moved to Gitega with her husband in hopes of fleeing the violent attacks in her community. Ndayambaye said her husband worked as a school teacher while she stayed home to care for their five children. One afternoon, Ndayamabaye said she became nervous for her husband’s safety after a group of children fled school crying and telling their families soldiers had taken their teachers away. Ndayamabaye said the militia invaded the schools, removing any male Hutu teachers from their classrooms. She explained that the perpetrators took her husband and loaded him onto a truck with his fellow male colleagues, and they killed him. Ndayambaye said they were casting bodies into rivers or mass graves. After her husband was murdered, she said perpetrators invaded her home, stole all its belongings, and left her with zero belongings. She said if her neighbors did not give her milk and food, she is not sure she and her children would have survived.

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  Ndihokubwayo, Espérance

  Espérance Ndihokubwayo

  Esperance Ndihokubwayo said , “I saw horrible things, people were being killed before me, being rounded up before me, being loaded into trucks and transported to the judicial court before me. I was living nearby, they killed them before me and each night I heard people howling and agonizing. I couldn't sleep, I felt so sad. we saw the cars transporting[dead bodies], there were things like pits that they prepared to dump them into, they then piled them full and then covered them with ashes.”

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  Ngabo, Léonce

  Léonce Ngabo

  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.

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  Ngaboyibwami, Jean Baptiste

  Jean Baptiste Ngaboyibwami

  Jean Baptiste attended school at Murore but had to stop attending in second grade due to the crisis, which prevented him from continuing his education. During the crisis, there were a series of violent incidents where people perceived as wealthy or educated were a target. Victims would often be deported, placed in sacks, murdered in collective ditches and local chiefs seized the property of the deceased.

  Jean Baptiste and his family had to flee to Rwanda to escape the violence, taking refuge with the Red Cross. His father, Karemera Nestor, and several neighbors, including a teacher named Badadi, were among those murdered. His family faced severe unrest and loss, with Jean Baptiste's father and other victims being forcibly taken away and never returning back home. Jean also witnessed his teacher being arrested and deported who goes by the name, Badadi, and described the fear and chaos among the children.

  After the crisis, Jean Baptiste’s elder brother fled the country and did not return until after the election of Ndadaye. Jean Baptiste and his mother eventually returned to their homeland after spending about a year and a half in refugee camps.

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  Nibigira, Bernard

  Bernard Nibigira

  Bernard Nibigira, also known as Ntibankange, was a nickname that was given to him at his administration sector job for protection. He attended school until the 6th grade and dropped out, due to the lack of school fees and the political state of the country.

  Government workers, including teachers, were forcefully taken by soldiers in Toyota vehicles. Perpetrators initially targeted teachers and later expanded to other civilians. The interviewee's own family was affected, with several members, including teachers and a soldier, being taken away. Bernard’s brother, Tharcisse Mugabonutwiwe, was among those arrested and taken to a place called Mukenke. The family was not allowed to visit him, and eventually he never returned. Other family members, such as a teacher named André Baranyizigiye and a cousin named Badadi, were also killed. The interviewee's brother, who was a mason, was among those who did not survive as well.

  Family members who survived were labeled as traitors and treated unfairly by others in the community. The interviewee was even publicly humiliated by local authorities, where they made him undress in a communal office due to assuming the soccer jersey he had on was some sort of government uniform.

  He describes how those arrested were killed at night, either by stabbing or hitting with hammers. The bodies were buried in mass graves, with pits being dug by machinery in places like Karama and Vumbi.The perpetrators consisted of local authorities and soldiers who would round up people based on lists and transport them to communes where they were taken to be executed. The interviewee describes how the arrested individuals were transported and the bodies were disposed of.

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  Nibona, André

  André Nibona

  Oral history of André Nibona.

  In April of 1972, Andre Nibona was taken away to be killed but he said an administrator of the commune saved him and 70 other civilians. While their lives were spared, Nibona said they were forced to become servants for a Tutsi family and spent their days living in fear. Nibona explained that the survivors burned photos of all those killed to avoid “Gucusasa” – a Kirudni word for great sorrow.

  Nibona is still trying to get his land back. The people who stole it are now dead, but their children have his land now.

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  Nijenahagera, Sylvestre

  Sylvestre Nijenahegeira

  Oral history of Sylvestre Nijenahagera. After only four months of marriage, Sylvestre Nijenahagera said the 1972 Genocide of Burundi erupted and killings began to creep into his country. He evacuated Burundi in hopes of finding safety in Tanzania. He was sent back to Burundi because he said his name was written on a list of those who should be killed. He said due to a clerical error, he was marked as dead and this mistake saved his life. Nijenahagera escaped a brutal death by hiding on the roof of a church. He said without the help of the church, and a clerical error, he would not be alive today to share his story of survival.

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  Nimubona, Phocus

  Phocus Nimubona

  Phocus Nimubona said he was able to survive the 1972 Genocide of Burundi by dressing up as a female child to escape being executed alongside the other male members of the community. Nimubona said he fled to Tanzania and lived there from 1972 to 1985. Nimubona said because he and his family fled during the violent attacks, their neighbor took his family’s property. However, Nimubona explained that even though his neighbor was Tutsi and he and his family were Hutu it made no difference. He said because he and his family lived in harmony with the Tutsi’s before the 1972 Genocide, they received part of their land back upon their return. While Nimubona expressed relief that he and other family members and friends were able to survive the 1972 attacks, he did go on to lose many loved ones during the next violent eruption of 1993.

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  Nindamutsa, Gertrude

  Gertrude Nindamutsa

  Gertrude narrates her experiences during the tragic events of 1972 and life afterwards in Burundi. At the age of 18, Gertrude got married and soon after had a child. On the same day as her child's birth, turmoil erupted in the community, leading to extensive fear and people fleeing their homes. Despite the mayhem, the speaker's husband returned shortly before being taken away and never seen again. This marked the beginning of profound distress for the interviewee, who was left alone with a newborn during their postpartum recovery.

  Later on, Gertrude remarried but shockingly lost her second husband in 1973 during the continuing unrest. The interviewee became a widow twice due to the violence that swept through her region. Throughout these hardships, Gertrude depended on the support of her in-laws to help raise her children. In her testimony she also touches upon the origins of the tragedy, accredited to tensions among Hutu residents in the Imbo region who were allegedly planning to buy an airplane. This plan did not succeed, leading to violence that targeted both Tutsis and Hutus indiscriminately, with countless massacres reported.

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  Nindorera, Aruberi

  Aruberi Nindorera

  Aruberi began elementary school in the early 1980s and completed his national exams around 1989-1990. He attended primary school in Nyagatovu, moved to Marangara in Ngozi province, and then went to secondary school at Collège Buye in Burengo. He pursued a career in teaching and worked for the government, initially as a teacher, then in municipal roles, and returned to teaching. He currently teaches in Vumbi.

  The interviewee was very young during the 1972 massacres, but he shared insights based on his mothers witness to the tragedies. His father, who was Tutsi but had a Hutu mother, was targeted due to his perceived association with Hutus and his size, which was uncommon for Tutsis.

  His father, working in Kirundo, was accused of helping "traitors" and was killed. The family lived in a refugee camp, then moved to Nyagatovu.

  The interviewee recounted that during the 1972 killings, Tutsis, including some who were mistakenly identified as Hutus or suspected of supporting "traitors," were also targeted.

  Specific individuals who faced these tragedies, included his father and other Tutsis who were killed or disappeared under similar circumstances. Nindorera described his father's killer as Ndabaneze Laurent, who was a lieutenant in Kirundo, and reportedly involved in the violence and later killed in Vumbi.

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  Niyiragira, Venant

  Venant Niyiragira

  Venant Niyiragira was a fifth grader when the 1972 Genocide of Burundi began. He vividly remembers returning home from school and hearing that his father had been killed. Niyiragira said a close friend of the family witnessed a truck filled with soldiers force his father into the vehicle. The same friend told Niyiragira it might be safer for him to wear a dress as males were prevalently targeted by the militia. Niyiragira said at this time, soldiers were using hammers to smash their victim’s skulls in half before dumping their bodies, dead or alive, into mass graves. He and his siblings fled to the Congo to escape the violence. They slept outside for days until the Congolese took pity on them and welcomed them into a refugee camp. Niyiragira said he could never return to school again because he had too much hate in his heart.

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  Niyongabo, Elois

  Elois Niyongabo

  Niyongabo said he was forced to drop out of the fifth grade because that is when the 1972 Genocide of Burundi commenced. He recalled teachers telling him and his fellow classmates that they were taking a day off school and class would resume next week. In reality, Niyongabo said the school was canceled so the community could attend a meeting to prepare for the genocide against the Hutu. A chief commander that the community could not identify as Hutu secretly attended the meeting and warned the locals that there would be killings. Niyongabo lost his father and other relatives during the genocide. He said that his Tutsi neighbors took over their home and were never able to utter a word to the people who stole his father’s life and his family’s home.

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  Niyongabo, Protais

  Protais Niyongabo

  Niyongabo went to church on Sunday, April 29th, 1972 just as he did every Sunday with his family. As he and his family of 9 exited Sunday service, they could hear helicopters in the next commune. Niyongabo explained that people in his community were not accustomed to hearing helicopters so close to their homes and everyone became very intrigued as to what was happening. Niyongabo went home only to hear screams from the parishioners exiting the second mass session. Then, the following day, a group of people ran toward him and his father, screaming at them to run for their lives. They looked up to see that the ruling party’s house in their community was on fire. Niyongabo said the violence and house burning continued to engulf his community.

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  Niyonzima, Therence

  Therence Niyonzima

  Therence Niyonzima witnessed his father die after he took a spear to his side.

  After he watched his father die in agony, he said he carries his father’s wound and death with him in his heart every single day. He has never recovered from this heartbreak nor has he ever been able to recover his land or livestock taken by the militia. Niyonzima also lost his uncle in the genocide but explained that mourning their deaths would be strictly forbidden and punishable by death. Niyonzima was forced to live with the person who stabbed and murdered his father right in front of him. He had to pretend it did not happen to survive. Now, Niyonzima encourages Burundian youth to learn the truth about the painful past and to not be arrogant or vengeful.

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  Nkunzumwami, Pimako

  Pimako Nkunzumwami

  Pimako explains how during the genocide in Burndi, violence seemed to have been orchestrated against Hutu intellectuals and wealthy individuals, including the interviewee's father. His father was arrested in 1971 and imprisoned under accusations related to political betrayal and theft. This arrest was linked to a larger campaign of violence against the Hutu people. The father was later taken away by a car, presumably for execution, which left the interviewee and his family in a state of uncertainty and fear.

  In 1973, fearing for his life, Pimako fled to Tanzania. After receiving reassurances that the situation had improved, he returned home. However, he found that the violence and loss had not ceased. He goes into detail in regards to the confiscation of his family's property, including land and livestock, by those in power who accused them of being "children of betrayers." This theft was part of the broader violence against Hutu individuals and their families. The interviewee speaks about the hardships of surviving the violence and the continued struggles to reclaim lost property and seek justice. Despite these challenges, he expresses gratitude for still being alive and the resilience to continue speaking about these experiences.

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  Nkurunziza, Yvette

  Yvette Nkurunziza

  Nkurunziza was an infant when her father was murdered during the 1972 Genocide of Burundi. Her father was a customs officer and a respected community member. Military officials arrested her father on his way to work, and he was never seen alive again. After his death, Nkurunziza explained her family’s living conditions worsened, and her mother sent them to live with their grandmother. Nkurunziza explained that because Tutsis killed her father, she was raised to hate Tutsis because all Tutsis were terrible people. However, Nkurunziza is proud to share that her daughter-in-law and grandchild are part of Tutsi, and there is no room for hate in their hearts. Now, she hopes the youth study the past so that this mass atrocity never happens again.