Every 6 of April Burundi commemorates the assassination of its president Cyprien Ntaryamira who died in a plane crash in Rwanda after attending a regional summit in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam.
The president had just completed two months in the office after being appointed by the country’s National Assembly in January 13, 1994.
President Cyprien Ntaryamira died in a plane crash in Kigali, Rwanda in April 1994.
President Cyprien Ntaryamira was a victim of a plane crash with his counterpart, Rwanda’s President Juvenale Habyarimana the catastrophe that sparked ethnic division and a genocide in Rwanda.
In April 2022 his political party Sahwanya-Frodebu called for justice after 28 years since the former party leader and Burundi President was killed.
“Neither national justice nor international justice, no one has yet dared to undertake credible legal proceedings to bring justice to the Burundian people in general and to the bereaved families in particular,” a communique read from Sahwanya-Frodebu political party dating back two years ago.
His political party Sahwanya-Frodebu in a statement indicated that it regrets up to date no thorough investigations were made to bring the perpetrators to face justice and the reason behind his killing.
The wife of president Ntaryamira during an interview with BBC said that she tried to push for the investigations and find the reason for the plane crash near Kanombe airport.
“I wrote to the UN by then it was led by Koffi Annan and he told me it would be better if the country had requested this and the country helped me through the process for the request to know why the plane crushed but nothing was done until now,” said Sylvana Ntaryamira the former president’s wife.
During President Cyprien Ntaryamira’s swearing in speech of February 5, 1994, President Ntaryamira advocated discipline in all aspects of life in the country.
“It is crucial that every Burundian understands that it is strictly forbidden to violate human rights. Whether you are Hutu, Tutsi or Twa, everyone deserves to be shown respect on a daily basis, in their family or even in everything he does,” the late Cyprien Ntaryamira said during his maiden speech.
Ntaryamira said “Without delay, we will prioritize discipline in all areas of the country. Discipline in the army, discipline in educational institutions, discipline in work, discipline in governance.”
He died at the age of 39 in a Rwandan plane crash on April 6, 1994, two months after his inauguration alongside Rwanda’s President Juvenale Habyarimana and the two ministers Bernard Ciza and Cyriaque Simbizi.