11/12/2025
🔴 — Ten Years Without Justice
Today we remember the ten years that have passed since the mass killings widely known as the . These killings took place on December 11 and 12, 2015, in several neighbourhoods of Bujumbura, mainly Nyakabiga and Musaga. The violence was deliberately aimed at eliminating those who opposed Nkurunziza’s third term.
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🔴 A morning of horror…
On the morning of December 12, 2015, hundreds of bodies were found lying in the streets of Nyakabiga, Jabe, and Musaga in Bujumbura. Many of these victims had been killed in their homes during the night; others were dragged out and executed in the streets. Some people killed elsewhere were brought and dumped in Nyakabiga and surrounding areas.
A smaller number of victims were also killed in their homes in Mutakura.
We must also remember those who had been arrested the previous evening in different neighbourhoods of Bujumbura or on the roads leading into the city from the northern provinces, who never reappeared.
For example: Judge Laurent Mukezamihigo, who worked at the First Instance Court of Ntega in Kirundo. That morning he was on his way to greet his family in Bujumbura when he was forced out of the vehicle at Bugarama after a policeman saw on his ID that he was from Nyakabiga. From that moment on, he was never seen again.
The violence was not limited to killings. Acts of r**e were also committed against girls and women in Nyakabiga and Musaga. The Imbonerakure, soldiers from BSPI, police officers from API and BAE, and SNR agents roamed through terrified neighbourhoods, targeting anyone they encountered.
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🔴 The excuse: attacks on military camps in Ngagara and Musaga
At dawn on December 11, 2015, armed individuals entered the military camp in Ngagara and other camps in Musaga, including ISCAM military academy, the paracommando camp, and the arms depot known as Camp Base.
Although these attacks were widely attributed to “youth’s attack on military camps ”, the truth is that some of these young men had been in communication with certain soldiers who showed them how to enter the camps and seize weapons. In some locations they succeeded and even left with soldiers. Elsewhere, they failed; some youths and soldiers were arrested or killed.
These attacks were brief and had ended by early morning.
The army spokesperson at the time, Colonel Gaspard Baratuza, announced that same day—around 10 a.m.—that everything was under control and that 12 people had been killed in the clashes. This was on Friday, December 11, 2015.
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🔴 The Massacre of December 12, 2015
On Saturday morning, December 12, the streets of Nyakabiga, Cibitoke , Musaga, and Jabe were filled with corpses. Nyakabiga had the highest concentration. Bodies of different age were found lying face-down, some with hands tied behind their backs, executed at point-blank range, others neatly placed together in rows.what was surprisingly observed is that only Tutsi’s bodies were there!
Among the bodies found in Nyakabiga were people arrested elsewhere the previous day.
One example: Sous-lieutenant Hermès Nduwingoma, a student at ISCAM. He had been arrested on December 11 in the afternoon in Kinanira while heading to the hospital. Some say he was arrested inside Kira Hospital, where he had been accompanied by Sous-lieutenant Clovis Habimana. The next morning, Hermès Nduwingoma’s body was found among the corpses in Nyakabiga. To this day, no authority has explained how an ISCAM cadet arrested far from Nyakabiga ended up dead in Nyakabiga.
Other victims were killed at their workplaces or in their homes.
Examples include:
• Innocent Ntahombaye, a milk vendor in Nyakabiga, killed inside his small milk shop.
• Ernest Nibitanga, a teacher at the small school of Kibenga, killed at his home in Mutakura.
• Benoît Ngendakumana, recently appointed headmaster of a secondary school in Ngagara, arrested by API officers during his move; his body was later found among others in Nyakabiga.
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🔴 Bodies dumped in mass graves
All the bodies mentioned above were collected very early in the morning by municipal workers of Bujumbura using city trucks.
A few families with connections to authorities managed to claim the bodies of their loved ones and bury them.
The rest—those who had no powerful relatives—were dumped into mass graves in Kanyosha and other unknown locations.
This rapid removal and secret burial was intended to hide the true number of those killed.
The Burundian government eventually acknowledged 87 deaths, but independent estimates range between 150 and 300 victims.
It is also reported that numerous people were killed on the evening of December 11 by soldiers under the command of the late Lieutenant-Colonel Darius Ikurakure, and that their bodies were buried in remote, undisclosed locations.
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🔴 The government’s lies
The CNDD-FDD regime consistently spread false claims that those killed were combatants who had attacked the camps.
This is completely false.
The attacks were merely a pretext for a planned massacre.
The evidence contradicting the official narrative is overwhelming:
1. The camp attacks occurred early on December 11 at three camps (Ngagara, Musaga, Mujejuru). They were brief; the army itself announced 12 dead and 21 captured. So where did the 87 bodies announced the next day come from?
2. There is no military camp in Nyakabiga.
How can it be the area where most bodies were found if no battle took place there?
What about the victims found in Jabe, Mutakura, and Cibitoke?
3. Many bodies were found face-down, hands tied behind their backs, executed at point-blank range. Who fights with their hands tied?
4. The case of Sous-lieutenant Hermès Nduwingoma shows that people arrested elsewhere were transported and executed in Nyakabiga.
5. Seven young men arrested near Mujejuru camp on the morning of December 11 were detained in the Jenda police station. That evening, they were taken out of the cell by Major Marius Gahomera. The next morning, their bodies were found at Kanyunya in Mukike commune. Were they “fighting” too?
6. The women and girls r**ed in Nyakabiga, Cibitoke and Musaga—were they “combatants” as well?
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🔴 Officials responsible for the massacre
Five camps and their commanders played leading roles in the massacres in Nyakabiga, Jabe, and Musaga on the afternoon of December 11:
• BSPI, commanded by Colonel Dominique Nyamugaruka
• API, commanded by Colonel Alexandre Muyenge (Manalex)
• BAE, commanded by Colonel Désiré Uwamahoro
• Muha camp, commanded by Major Pascal Minani (Mababa)
• Bataillon Génie de Combat, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Darius Ikurakure
These officers were already responsible for neutralizing those who opposed Nkurunziza’s third term.
Nyamugaruka, Muyenge, and Uwamahoro operated in central neighbourhoods; Mababa acted in the south of Bujumbura; Ikurakure in the north.
They are among the first who must be held accountable.
General Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, then Minister of Security, was the top authority overseeing the killings. He later denied the r**es committed in Nyakabiga and Musaga.
General Étienne Ntakarutima (Steve) headed the SNR at the time. SNR agents were among the main perpetrators of the atrocities.
Denis Karera, head of the Imbonerakure, and the leadership of the CNDD-FDD are also responsible.
Colonel Gaspard Baratuza, army spokesperson, first gave the real figures from the clashes, but the next day changed the numbers and announced 87 deaths without explaining the additional bodies.
It is whispered that he was forced to do so to secure a UN mission in the Central African Republic.
This assignment eventually cost him his life.
Freddy Mbonimpa, mayor of Bujumbura, must also be held accountable: municipal trucks were used to remove the bodies and bury them secretly in mass graves.
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🔴 Ten years without justice
Those who committed these atrocities once believed themselves untouchable.
Some are now imprisoned under President Ndayishimiye—such as General Bunyoni and Colonel Désiré Uwamahoro—but for charges unrelated to the massacre.
Others, though not jailed, no longer wield the power they had in 2015.
The partners in crime have begun to turn against each other.
But the blood of the innocents continues to demand justice.
The passing years do not lessen that cry.
We will continue to demand justice until every perpetrator is held accountable.
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In memory of the victims (partial list):
Hermès Nduwingoma
Olivier Ngayimbesha
Joris Ndaripfane
Raoul Nijimbere
Jean Hakizimana
Clément Nsanzerugeze
Franck Nkurunziza
Jean-Claude Niyibizi
Aimé Havyarimana
Patrick Havyarimana
Eddy-François Butoyi
Georges Nimbeshaho
Laurent Mukezamihigo
Christophe Habarugira
Longin Manirambona
Eric Save
Thierry Uwamahoro
Innocent Ntahombaye
Ernest Nibitanga
Benoît Ngendakumana
Elvis Irakoze
Alain Lionel Nsavyumugisha
Bernard Berekere
…
May they rest in peace.
