IV. Symbolic Violence and Destruction of Property
Since late 2008, local political party offices and other party symbols, including flags, have been attacked throughout Burundi, apparently to intimidate political opponents and warn them of the possibility of more devastating violence. Failure by the Burundian authorities to investigate and halt politically motivated attacks on property is likely to contribute to heightened levels of physical violence between party members during the election season.
CNDD-FDD offices have been the most frequently targeted, with dozens of arson cases since late 2008.
Numerous incidents of property destruction have taken place in central Burundi. For instance, in October 2009, a CNDD-FDD office was set on fire in Karusi province. An FNL ex-combatant was arrested, but subsequently freed due to lack of evidence. [153] In November, seven CNDD-FDD meeting houses were set on fire in Muramvya province. [154] Such attacks continued through April 2010. On the night of February 21, 2010, unknown assailants dumped faeces into an MSD office in Gishubi commune, in Gitega province. [155] Two nights later, an MSD office was vandalized in the Kamenge neighborhood of Bujumbura; authorities did not conduct investigations to identify perpetrators. [156] An FNL office in Bujumbura was vandalized the same week. [157]
Property has also been vandalized elsewhere in Burundi. In Kayogoro, Makamba, Burundi’s southernmost province, the house of the UPD-Zigamibanga representative was set on fire on August 23, 2009. Police did not conduct investigations. [158] A UPD office was set on fire in Muramvya province in November 2009 near a large police camp, but no one was apprehended. [159]
In at least one case, property damage resulted in vigilante justice; for example, in December, ruling party members in Nyamurenza, in northern Ngozi province, beat an FNL member when they caught him dismantling the roof of a local CNDD-FDD office. Nyamurenza’s recent history is marked by impunity for political crimes committed by both CNDD-FDD and FNL members, a likely contributor to the CNDD-FDD members’ violent response to the act of vandalism. [160]
[153] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with APRODH representative in Karusi province, March 2010.
[154] “L’intolérance politique se fait sentir en province Muramvya,” (Political intolerance makes itself felt in Muramvya province), Agence Burundaise de Presse, December 2, 2009.
[155]“Indignation des militants du MSD à l’ouverture d’une permanence en commune Gishubi,” (Indignation of MSD activists at the opening of a headquarters in Gishubi commune), Agence Burundaise de Presse, February 22, 2010.
[156]Radio broadcasts on Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) and Radio Isanganiro, February 24, 2010; Human Rights Watch telephone interview with the Kamenge communal administrator, April 23, 2010.
[157] RPA broadcast, February 18, 2010.
[158] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with a Makamba-based journalist, March 2010.
[159] “L’intolérance politique se fait sentir en province Muramvya,” (Political intolerance makes itself felt in Muramvya province), Agence Burundaise de Presse, December 2, 2009.
[160] The incident recalled a much more serious case the previous year: in December 2008, after several CNDD-FDD offices were set on fire in Nyamurenza, ruling party members and local officials trapped and beat at least nine FNL members; one’s head was split open with a piece of wood. Two weeks later, the communal CNDD-FDD vice president was shot and killed. No one was held accountable for the beatings; three alleged FNL members were arrested for the shooting, but released several months later. See Human Rights Watch, Pursuit of Power, pp. 40-42.