Burundi youth call for rape of opposition

BURUNDIANS belonging to the ruling party’s youth movement, Imbonerakure, have been filmed chanting songs that promote rape of opposition women to make them pregnant and bear Imbonerakure children.

Members of the youth wing of the ruling CNDDFDD arrived at a party meeting in the province of Ngozi after a long march, singing: “Impregnate opponents so that they can give birth to Imbonerakure.”

“They were singing and some officials, the police and the army, who were around witnessed it,” said a civil society activist.

Ngozi is Burundi president Pierre Nkurunziza’s home province.

Burundi opposition activists accused the government of encouraging the youth to rape opponents, saying that it was not the first time these kinds of songs were sang by party members, including Imbonerakure.

Cases of girls and women being raped in Burundi have previously been reported by Human Rights Watch and other Burundian civil society organisations, but the government has denied them, accusing civil society activists of being part of an international conspiracy to destroy the regime.

In Bujumbura, a young girl testified that she was arrested days after her father was assassinated and taken to a hotel in Kigobe, where she was raped by armed men, including members of the presidential guard. She fled to Rwanda, where she said she gave birth to a girl. Human Rights Watch last year reported many cases of women raped by Imbonerakure while fleeing to Tanzania.

At least 450 000 Burundians have fled to neighbouring countries, while 3000 have been killed, according to rights groups in Burundi.