{"id":2412,"date":"2015-03-02T11:16:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T10:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/blogs\/english\/?p=2412"},"modified":"2016-07-18T15:47:41","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T15:47:41","slug":"cibitoke-attack-his-name-was-aaron-manirampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/cibitoke-attack-his-name-was-aaron-manirampa\/","title":{"rendered":"Cibitoke Attack : His name was Aaron Manirampa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pictures of the mutilated young man went around social networks. Two terrible pictures: on one, he is tied up and alive. On the other, he lies on the ground. Killed. Aaron Manirampa is one of those young rebels coldly executed in Murwi Commune December 2014. Iwacu found his family and his relatives. Here is the story of an unlucky young man. –<\/strong>By Dieudonn\u00e9 Hakizimana and Christian Bigirimana translated by Diane Uwimana<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Aaron<\/a>

Aaron Manirampa, tied up and alive<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cMy God, it is him!” The eyes of Judith Ndarubayemwo instantly fill with tears when we show her the two pictures that have been appearing at various social networks. The pictures are chilling. On the first, we see a young man tied up, sitting down. He is surrounded by policemen and soldiers. Terrified, he seems to beg, implore his murderers.On the second picture: the same young man, but this time lying down, still tied up. We notice a big wound on the head. He is dead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The same Aaron Manirampa, killed<\/p><\/div>\n

In an almost inaudible voice, the woman, in her 70\u2019sconfirmed that it is her son in the photograph. Silence in the small family living-room. The air is heavy. We don\u2019t dare to speak. After a moment, her face ravaged by sorrow, she continues: \u201cHe loved me more than his brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Manirampa, 24, was born on Kabumba hill, Ruyaga zone in Kanyosha commune, Bujumbura province. He started his primary school until 4th year at Buhonga, and his family fled the persecutions of FNL fighters in 2004. He enrolled at \u201cNotre Dame\u201d primary school to enter the fifth year but he gave up the school in the middle of the year.<\/p>\n

The following school-year, his parents enrol him at the Kamesa primary school in Kanyosha commune. He spent the last two trimesters, but he got bad results at the end of the year. During the Easter holidays, he asked his parents for money, he said, for trade. They refused. Aaron finally gave up school. According to his childhood friend, Aaron was a tumultuous child.<\/p>\n

The young Aaron leaves his family<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aaron Manirampa ran away and fled to Makamba. There, someone offered him a job. Contacted by Iwacu, a source in Nyanza -lac commune affirms that he herded goats.
\nBadly treated, the young Aaron wanted to escape this misery.<\/p>\n

One day, his boss sent him to buy bean seeds at the market. He took off and went home. \u201cWhen we saw him he was in a horrible state. He had lost weight, he was dirty, his clothes were dirty and gave off a pungent odour,\u201d says his sister, in a broken voice.
\nThe young man was unrecognizable. His parents asked him to return to school but he refused. Then, he got involved in the FNL movement. He stayed there for more than 2 years. He was demobilized in 2009 with the cease -fire between the government and the FNL.<\/p>\n

Aaron Manirampa then returned home. Without work, Imbonerakure asked him to collaborate with him in their \u201cactivities.\u201d According to his family, Aaron declined the offer. But after refusing to integrate Imbonerakure, Aaron was afraid and went to stay with his older brother in Carama, Kinama commune.<\/p>\n

Things go wrong<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately in Carama, the unlucky seems to go after the young man. The young Aaron was accused by his sister in-law of raping a three month neighbouring girl. But according to the Carama neighbours, the young woman didn\u2019t want Aaron at her home. She is said to have unjustly charged Aaron, and corrupted neighbours to testify against him. The search warrant was signed by the Kinama police.<\/p>\n

The young Aaron fled to Rumonge. One of his brothers asked him to enrol in a professional and vocational school in Rumonge to learn welding.
\nAccording to his friend with whom he took these courses in Rumonge, he went through the training but his dream was to practise trade.<\/p>\n

\"Tite<\/a>

Tite Barakekereza: “My son was tied up on the picture, we couldn’t executed him”<\/p><\/div>\n

After the welding school, with the money received for his demobilization, Aaron wanted to start a small business. But his brothers wanted him to open a welding shop, and it was the brothers who managed his money. They eventually offered him a small business selling bags of rolls at the Buyenzi market called \u201cRuvumera\u201d.
\nHe remained as a seller of plastic bags at the market Buyenzi until 2012.
\nWhen, suddenly, he told his brothers that he was bankrupted.<\/p>\n

Aaron Manirampa returned to his parents but his brother who lives in Carama convinced him to return to live with him. He accepted this despite the disagreements between him and his sister-in-law. “We were sceptical. I asked him, but he replied that the problem was solved between his sister-in-law and him,\u201d his sister remembers.<\/p>\n

Indeed, relations seem calm; the young Aaron even helped his sister- in- law with her market stand at the market called \u201cZion\u201d. A few days later, he called his sister to inform her that his sister-in-law sent him to Cibitoke province to help her family harvest cassava.<\/p>\n

A week later, remembers his sister, Aaron Manirampa called her to say that he was mistreated by the family of his sister-in-law: \u201cI asked him to come down to Bujumbura and promised to pay the ticket for the bus on his arrival. He promised to think about it and let me know, but I never heard anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days after, says Aaron\u2019s sister, she learned that he was no longer with his sister-in-law in Cibitoke province: \u201cIt was at the end of last December. And I was afraid because people said that people had been killed and thrown into the Rusizi River.\u201d Then, she says tearfully, nobody heard from Aaron again.<\/p>\n

Macabre discovery<\/strong><\/p>\n

In January 2015, news began to flow about the people killed in the Murwi attack. Aaron’s mother told her daughter that everyone in Gitaramuka quarter, in Musaga Commune, where the family lives for the moment, is talking about the death of Aaron: “She asked our brothers but they replied that is was a rumour. \u201c
\nApparently, the brothers know the truth but they didn\u2019t want to suddenly announce his death to their mother already, who was suffering from a heart disease. After a few weeks, they eventually told her and asked her to take the news with serenity.<\/p>\n

With a heavy heart, Tite Barakekereza, the father of Aaron, indicates that this death is an unspeakable pain that will remain with him for life. According to him, his son had an endearing character and that he loved his mother: “When he got his first demobilization pay, he bought a goat for his mother.\u201dIn addition, he never spent a week without visiting us when he sold bags at Ruvumera market. \u201cHe often brought gifts to his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Judith<\/a>

Judith Ndarubayemwo: “Those who executed my son must respond to their acts.@iwacu<\/p><\/div>\n

Judith Ndarubayemwo, his mother, says that she hasn\u2019t yet realized that Aaron is dead: “Sometimes I tell myself that this is a nightmare and that I’ll see my son again\u201d.All she wants is the truth about what really happened in Cibitoke province, \u201cmy son cannot have been in the DRC in such a short time as he was with the family of his sister-in-law at the end of December 2014.\u201d For her, there are too many \u201cunsaid things in the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other hope for the family, says Tite Barakekereza is that the murderers of Aaron Manirampa be known and brought to justice so that they can be held responsible for their acts: \u201cMy son was arrested, tied up. You don\u2019t kill someone who is already captured, even during war. “He concludes: \u201cWe need to know the name of the leader of this rebellion, if indeed there was rebellion.\u201d This battered family hopes the inquiry commission recently established by the General Attorney of the Republic will identify those responsible for the rebellion and those who committed war crimes so that they can be brought to justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pictures of the mutilated young man went around social networks. Two terrible pictures: on one, he is tied up and alive. On the other, he lies on the ground. Killed. Aaron Manirampa is one of those young rebels coldly executed in Murwi Commune December 2014. Iwacu found his family and his relatives. Here is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[34,80,146],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2777,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions\/2777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}