Me Armel Niyongere, lawyer and human rights defender in Burundi, received on November 18, 2021 in Paris the Engel-Du Tertre prize awarded by the Fondation-ACAT, for his commitment to human rights in his country. An action he has been carrying out for six years from abroad. He takes stock of the situation in Burundi from the coming to power, in June 2020, of a new president, Evariste Ndayishimiye.
Conflicts, ethnic divisions, civil war (1996 to 2006) … Burundi, a small country in East Africa, has gone through many trials before finding relative peace. While the guns have generally fallen silent, many Burundians continue to live in an unhealthy climate where intimidation and fear reign, as Armel Niyongere emphasizes. The lawyer and human rights defender had to flee his country where he has been threatened several times. However, he does not give up his action and continues to denounce human rights violations. The latest report published by its association ACAT speaks volumes.
“In the past 15 months, there have been 695 assassinations, 15 extra-judicial executions, 67 kidnappings, 103 cases of torture and over 1,000 cases of arbitrary arrests.”
Me Armel Nyongere, human rights defender and president of the ACAT-Burundi Associationto franceinfo Africa
And yet, the United States recently announced the lifting of sanctions imposed since 2015 on Burundi then led by President Nkurunziza who had locked the country. Unlike the European Union, which has maintained its restrictions, Washington believes that the situation has changed with the election of Evariste Ndayishimiye in May 2020. A very relative change according to Armel Niyongere who is not hostile to the lifting of American sanctions . On the other hand, he refuses to turn the page very quickly. For him, the president started his mandate well with a nice speech and nice words, but that is not enough.
“There are crimes that have been committed and that should be punished. We cannot close our eyes and wait for it to pass. We need political will and actions to end impunity.”
Me Armel Nyongere, human rights defender and president of the ACAT-Burundi Associationto franceinfo Africa
The Burundian lawyer emphasizes that justice functions poorly in Burundi due to endemic corruption. President Evariste Ndayishimiye himself violently criticized the judiciary last August, whose corruption is “a shame”. However, nothing is done to change things and political interference prevents justice from doing its work independently, as the head of the Acat-Burundi association specifies.
Armel Niyongere wants to believe in a better tomorrow for his country and ardently wishes to see it come out of isolation. And that is why, he says, he insists on stopping impunity and establishing a state of rights. “We will never let go”, he said, in asking Burundi’s partners to be demanding and vigilant in order to help the country regain a calm climate and a stable situation.