The book by researcher Ludo De Witte arouses a general craze across countries and generations. Because the life and history of this young leader, broke on the eve of his country’s independence, for which he fought, fascinate. This book is also the story of “Nina” and Aimé. Meet
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Aimé Ntakiyica affectionately calls her “Nina”. But officially, her name is Anne Marie Ndenzako. She is a niece of Rwagasore. He is Aimé Ntakiyica. The son of Jean-Baptiste Ntakiyica. One of the co-defendants in the prince’s murder. Jean-Baptiste Ntakiyica was hanged in Gitega in 1963. Aimé was two years old. Both live marked: one, by the assassination of her uncle. The other, the hanging of his father. “It’s a story written in us”, they admit, very modestly. Very quickly, one feels in them a deep, throbbing pain, perhaps too long repressed. But also, the duo exudes a great bond. “Despite all this heavy liability, we decided to see each other, to talk to each other”, they say in unison.
Aimé Ntakiyica has not really lived in Burundi, he does not speak Kirundi. Arrived in Belgium in 1962, he says he grew up “With the terrible feeling of being the son of a murderer that some Burundians made him feel. It’s a terrible thing to grow up with that ”, recognizes Aimé. Terrible memories. First, the pain of his mother, a daughter of Prince Nyenama, first cousin of the king. The mother raised them, despite everything, in the love of a united paternal and maternal family. When from Belgium where the family is a refugee (they are the first Burundian refugees in Belgium) she learns of the hanging of her husband, Jean-Baptiste Ntakiyica, she shaves her hair. “Mum’s hair will no longer grow back”. The phenomenon is known. This is called “traumatic alopecia”. Aimé is silent. A friendly pat from his friend “Nina” and the son Ntakiyica regains his composure. He is a talented visual artist with a high sense of humor.
We really have to pay tribute to Nina and Aimé. Because relations are not easy between the Bezi princes, the Rwagasore clan and the Batare, that of Baranyanka, considered “the brain” of the assassination of the prince. Anne-Marie Ndenzako explains : “Relations between the princely families were complex, intertwined, ancient, deep, a mixture of love and hate”.
“Nina” and Aimé decided to talk to each other, to walk together in this difficult search for the truth. They understood that to avoid the sinking with too heavy a history, made up of unspoken, they must know. Immerse yourself in the tormented, bloody history of Burundi’s accession to independence. Between the PDC, the Christian Democratic Party of Baranyanka and its allies who did not ask for a “Immediate independence”, and therefore pampered by Belgium and the independentist Uprona of Rwagasore, the tear is deep. Laughing, Aimé tells an anecdote. The masterful slap given by his mother one day when, as a little boy, without knowing the meaning, he made the three-fingered salute, symbol of the Uprona party. “I was a kid, and a military school student who came home regularly with my cousin, also a student, promised to buy me fins for swimming and I did. Mom gave me a slap that I still remember ”.
“Nina” and Aimé, notwithstanding this fracture, will get to know each other. They understood that to break “the vicious circle”, it will be necessary to go through the case-truth. Know exactly what happened. Anne-Marie Ndenzako was convinced that there had not been “a fair trial” on the assassination of Prince Louis Rwagasore. The story was too simplistic. Same conviction with Aimé. “Nina and I understood that everything has not been said, that the assassination of Prince Rwagasore was not a simple struggle for power between a few princes. In short, that everything was not white or black ”, says Aimé. “We did not want to inherit this hatred”, insists “Nina. »And Aimé Ntakiyica added. “We wanted to know the truth, to leave our descendants a peaceful, fair story.”
A trio of fact and shock
It is then that luck or fate will make them meet Ludo De Witte. The man is known as a meticulous, determined, courageous researcher. His book on Lumumba resulted in official recognition of Belgium’s involvement in the assassination of the Congolese leader.
When they first met, Ludo wasn’t really interested in Burundi. He was working on the Congo and researching the assassination of Lumumba. But over the course of his investigations, he will discover “similarities in the elimination of Lumumba and Rwagasore by Belgium. “
Above all, he will discover, as he will write in his book, that the“Supposed atavistic hatred between Batare and Bezi constituted a reassuring and even comfortable theory for the (ex-) colonizers”. But did not explain everything. Little by little, a trio of fact and shock will form between the researcher and the two injured, but determined Burundians.
Anne-Marie Ndenzako as the niece of Rwagasore, a member of the victim’s family, and Aimé Ntakiyica, the son of one of the conspirators, have the legitimacy to do research. Better still, as a direct member of the family, Belgian law allows them access to the archives. Those that have not been destroyed or “moved”. It will be one of their sad discoveries: the destruction of certain archives. Ludo De Witte explains it well in his book.
Anne-Marie and Aimé are going to search for documents in Belgium, read a lot, meet witnesses. They share their discoveries with the researcher who, in the meantime, has become passionate about the history of Rwagasore. Better still, the researcher got his hands on unpublished, intact archives in London.
Stubbornly, encouraged by Anne-Marie Ndenzako and Aimé Ntakiyica, for more than eight years, the Belgian researcher read tens of thousands of documents, minutes, etc. With amazement, he will discover that the trial was botched and that “The role of the Belgians has never been examined”. It was not a story “between Africans”, as many said in Belgium. “Just as the assassination of Lumumba was not a story between Bantus”, remarks the Ludo De Witte.
With his humor, Aimé says that for the trial that sentenced his father and the others to death, we have “Opened one room and left another closed. As in detective films, Ludo De Witte will open the ignored room ”.
This book therefore makes it possible to restore the historical truth, but Ludo De Witte warns: this book does not exonerate the assassins by charging the Belgian actors only. “PDC officials were, at the highest level, the instigators of the attack. But this should not obscure the complicity or connivance of their Belgian advisers, those who financed and protected them. “
Time for appeasement?
After the assassination of Rwagasore, then the abolition of the monarchy, torn apart, the princely families, Batare and Bezi combined, experienced persecution, misery, exile, and assassinations. Asked about the feelings of other family members involved in the tragedy, as victims or responsible in the death of Rwagasore, Anne-Marie and Aimé remain modest. But they think that “globally” many members of their respective families support their approach. “We made our little CVR», Said Aimé again, decidedly very funny. Anne-Marie and Aimé hope to have contributed in this search for real responsibilities. “Modestly, Aimé and I can say, mission accomplished», Says Anne-Marie, this great lady of 64 years, now retired. Aimé also believes that they have succeeded. “We have a sense of calm, we have shown that we can move beyond what is supposed to divide us, seek the truth together. We don’t want to bequeath hatred to our children, but the truth ».
This book surely marks a turning point for history and future generations. Which perhaps explains its success, barely a month after its release. On Saturday 9 October at ULB, Ludo De Witte will present his book, the fruit of more than eight years of investigation into this political crime. Alongside the author and publishers, Anne-Marie Ndenzako and Aimé Ntakiyica will be there to talk about their story. A beautiful story of resilience, despite the pain, despite so much bloodshed.
For info or purchase of the book.
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