EDITORIAL: Burundi's provocation must be condemned

After a very busy week in Burundi’s propaganda factory, it should have been a precursor of worse things to come. News trickling in is that Amb. Jacques Bihozagara has died in the notorious Mpimba Prison in Burundi. While the circumstances of his death are still sketchy, suffice to say he was a victim of government harassment against Rwandans living in Burundi. Bihozagara was arrested by Burundian intelligence in early December at a time when Burundi was reeling under the pressure of street protests. Bihozagara, like many others before and after him, was labeled a Rwandan “spy” and summarily thrown into a dungeon with no judicial followup. By now Burundi should have heeded the many calls to put its house in order, but it remains intransigent by burying its head in the sand and passing the buck. In the meantime, Rwanda is dragged in the murk and Rwandan “spies” unearthed every day. They did not even flinch when they paraded a petty thief as a seasoned Rwandan spy on a mission to distabilise Burundi. This region has seen its fair share of unrest and those kinds of actions only contribute to senseless distrust, domestic unrest that comes with a stiff economic price tag and new waves of refugees. In Bihozagara, Rwanda has lost a dedicated servant who, after retiring from public life chose to invest in a country of his youth, Burundi: Yet another victim of misplaced political hysteria. But all hope should not be lost and our prayers for a peaceful member of the East African Community still stand and that reason will prevail.

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EDITORIAL: Burundi's provocation must be condemned