A youth peace building course opened in Kigali, yesterday, with a call on the international community to walk the talk and intervene in the Burundi crisis as mediation dialogue resumed in Entebbe, Uganda.

The two-week course, dubbed "Great Lakes Peace-Building Programme,” organised by Never Again Rwanda, seeks to educate and promote cross-border dialogue for peace to prevent conflicts and to prepare future generations to cope with challenges.

The political impasse in Burundi took a centre stage as participants used the crisis as a case study, calling on the international community to intervene before the conflict escalates any further.

Never Again Rwanda (NAR) hosts peace-building sessions twice a year under the theme, "What can Rwanda teach the World?”

Alexis Arakaza, 32, a Burundian participant, carried with him devastating images of the ongoing conflict embedded in the presentation dubbed, "Peace for cohabitance,” that he will share during the workshop. 

Arakaza told The New Times that the Pierre Nkurunziza government has taken advantage of the post-election unrest in Burundi to instill genocide ideology among people in order to play blame game on Tutsi ethnic group with view to eliminate them.

"Although I cannot confirm that there is genocide happening now, I want to assure you that there is mass killings and genocide ideology being promoted in Burundi,” Arakaza said.

"Initially, all the youth—irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds—were against third term for President Pierre Nkurunziza, and when the government realised that all the people were united against the third term, they (leaders) tried to accuse the Tutsi because of previous conflicts, claiming that the Tutsi are the ones against the third term,” Arakaza said.

He alleged that, recently, government military forces raided Nyakabiga, a Bujumbura suburb, and killed several Tutsi youth.

"I saw this happen with my own eyes. Surprisingly, the international community doesn’t believe that this could lead to a tragedy like what happened in Rwanda in 1994,” Arakaza added.

Thibaut  Ishimwe, 23, another Burundian participant, said the international community should not wait until millions of people have died to intervene.

"There is more to be done by everyone around the world to arrest the situation, to save the people of Burundi now and the negotiations can come later,” Ishimwe said.

The Burundi unrest has been on-going for eight months. It was triggered by President Nkurunziza’s decision to run for another term in office, a decision many Burundians said was unconstitutional.

Refugee influx

Figures indicate that at least 200,000 refugees have since crossed into neighbouring countries, including 75,000 in Rwanda, while about 400 people have been killed.

A military coup attempt in May failed.

Dr Joseph Nkurunziza, the co-founder of NAR, said Burundians have been left alone with the world merely watching.

"No one should tell us that they don’t know what is happening in Burundi, but maybe due to some weaknesses in the international community, they are not acting. They might act when so many people have died already and then come to create humanitarian assistance, which can be avoided if they intervene now,” he said.

"All we can do as the civil society is to help create awareness on what is happening in Burundi and hold our leaders accountable,” Dr Nkurunziza added.

NAR’s peace-building programme promotes mutual understanding, respect, and use of non-violent conflict resolution processes among citizens in order to build sustainable peace.

Activities in the programme are aimed at informing and educating society on how to prevent genocide and work toward sustainable peace.

Through the programme, NAR provides space for youth from different backgrounds to voice their own concerns about peace processes in their communities.

Kezia Mbabazi, a human rights lawyer from Uganda, said Burundi’s crisis should not be happening in this era.

"The history of Rwanda and the terrible situation Rwandans went through in 1994 should serve as an example to Burundi and the rest of the world,” said Mbabazi.

"There is a need to change the mindset of generations. I understand there are a series of ethnic conflicts that have happened in Burundi—in the past—but, it’s high time the leaders and the youth checked themselves, buried the previous differences and figured out what benefits their country and the people rather than killing one another.”

Yesterday’ talks in Entebbe, chaired by President Yoweri Museveni laid the groundwork for further negotiations, expected in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha early next year, according to media reports.