Banyamulenge makes fresh call for justice over Gatumba massacre

Friday, August 13, 2004, started like any other day for then-16-year-old Shoni Kalala who was living in Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi, together with his parents and three brothers.

He had played football earlier with his friends but got tired and went back home (the family’s tent) earlier than usual so he could sleep early.

Kalala’s father liked spending nights outside their tent, which was fifth from the road because it was usually hot inside. This was a practice by other fathers in the camp.

Their tent was divided in two; where here referred to as the sitting room where his mother would sleep with his youngest brother who was a baby, and the bedroom where Kalala would sleep with his two other brothers.

Kalala, being the eldest, would sleep at the edge of their mattress, his younger brother at the other edge, and their third-born brother would sleep in the middle.

Shortly after Kalala put his head down- hardly after two hours, he heard bullets in his light sleep, but this was such a common thing in Burundi. People usually shot at each other.

But this time it lasted for several minutes, and it sounded so close to their tent. He opened his eyes hoping to check what was going on outside, but he instead saw his youngest brother’s bullet-hit head gushing with blood. He was dying.

He got up to ask his younger brother what was going on, but he was long gone. Kalala briefly hid under the mattress but then remembered about his mother and the baby.

As he walked inside the tent, he saw his mother who was carrying the baby on her back, and rushing outside stopping at a grenade that was lobbed at her. Kalala doesn’t describe much of what he saw, but he shared that the baby’s head exploded.

He also learnt that his father who had initially run for his life, returned to save his family but was shot right in front of the tent.

Kalala had to get outside their tent if he was to live another minute. He tiptoed to their neighbours’ tent where many other people were hiding, but the killers saw him.

“They fired so many shots at us, and I just lay down. Only myself got out alive,” Kalala shared.

He survived different spots at the camp, from the bushy waste pit to different corners, but memories of his whole family being killed will never escape his thoughts for a minute.

And the scene when he returned to the tent, with all his family lifeless, and other people burnt alongside their tents is still unfathomable, 18 years later.

Kalala’s family is only part of 166 people mostly women and children who were brutally murdered 18 years ago, and were remembered on Friday, August 13 in Kigali, under the theme “play your part in fighting for the justice of our people killed in Gatumba.”

 

Inside the Gisozi-based Dove Hotel’s main hall, hundreds Banyamulege – an ethnic group from eastern DR Congo –from all age groups gathered to remember Gatumba massacre victims who were murdered in cold blood by bullets, machetes and others were burnt alive to ashes.

They also made a fresh call for justice since not one person has been held responsible for the massacre, when people like Agathon Rwasa who was then the leader of Forces for National Liberation- Palipehutu (FNL-Palipehutu), a Burundian Hutu rebel group that took part in the night raid, reportedly confessed publicly.

A day after the massacre, the BBC reported that the FNL group claimed responsibility for the violent attack, saying it had aimed to hit a military base, some 500m from the Gatumba camp.

“We then heard gunshots coming from the refugee camp aiming at us and then decided to retaliate,” Pasteur Habimana who was FNL spokesperson was quoted by Reuters.

That was after Burundi’s President Domitien Ndayizeye also expressed his shock after surveying the scene. “This is unbelievable, I have never seen this before,” he told Reuters before adding that the massacre had been carried out by Congolese who had crossed into his country.

Nevertheless, 18 years later, no arrest has been made, despite the massacre being condemned by the United Nations, African Union, and several rights groups.

“We have decided to live. We have decided to help others. We have decided to keep seeking for justice by fighting for ourselves and keeping to pray,” Jules Rutebuka said on behalf of families who lost their families in Gatumba, and all Banyamulenge in Rwanda at the event.

The commemoration event was also graced by Paul Gitwaza of Zion Temple who gave a message of hope and encouraged the mourners to seek justice.

A group of young women, Umwali, sang songs of remembrance of the night of the massacre that also saw more than 100 people gravely wounded.

The event also saw mourners fundraise for Internally Displaced People in DR Congo due to the ongoing violence towards Banyamulenge.