‘More fiction than the sad tragedy that it is’, is how one can summarise the story of the assassination of Burundi’s independence prime minister, Prince Louis Rwagasore. Very graphic, captivating and sur-real details, captured from the confessions of the plotters and the actual assassin, Jean Kageorgis, a 30-year old Greek shop attendant, who is executed by the authorities for the murder.
The author, a Belgian journalist, Guy Poppe, goes to great lengths to uncover facts hitherto unknown, thus ‘opening the debate’, as the preface to the French version of the book says. The original version is published in Dutch, translated into French by Liesbet Walckiers and published by Editions Iwacu of Bujumbura, under the title L’assassinat de Rwagasore, le Lumumba Burundais (The Assassination of Rwagasore, the Lumumba of Burundi).
Enriched with a prologue, an epilogue, a deductive conclusion, the cast, a chronology of events, and an index, the book would be a ‘thriller’, if only it weren’t about a tragic reality that seems to have reverberations into our present regional geo-politics, over fifty years later.
Written in classic captivating French narrative, the story opens with a prologue, focusing on the central plot of the book, the tragic events of the fateful Friday October 13 1961. … it is towards a quarter to eleven, that Friday evening. Jean Kageorgis…hides behind a shrub, about a dozen metres from the baraza, the terrasse of the Tanganyika Bar. Antoine Nahimana, squatting close, urges him, ‘Jean, this is the moment, shoot him, we are all together’. With his gun, a 9.3 mm, Kageorgis aims at a man who has just settled at a table with his company…he shoots a single, well aimed bullet. The man at the baraza is Louis Rwagasore, son of the mwami, the king of Urundi. Exactly sixteen days earlier, on September 28, he had been sworn-in as prime minister of his country. He was seated with some of his ministers at the terrasse of the Tanganyika Bar…
Later in the narrative, we learn that the fatal single bullet hit Rwagasore through the knot of his neck-tie and his head fell on the table. The story tends to fiction (hallucinating, according to the author), when the escaping assassins’ car runs out of fuel, and the Greek assassin hikes a lift in a vehicle driven by King Mwambutsa, whose son the stranded traveller has just murdered. Neither of the two is aware of the other and their respective links to Rwagasore.
In line with standard colonial divide and rule methods, the visible principal suspects are Jean Baptiste Ntidendereza and Joseph Biroli, sons of Chief Baranyanka, descendant of Ntare IV Rugamba, of the Batare clan, rivals to King Mwambutsa IV, and his son, Prince Rwagasore. The two brothers, through their political party, PDC (Christian Democratic Party), have lost the election to Rwagasore’s UPRONA (Union for National Progress).
In the course of their trial, these brothers and fellow plotters are silent about the real motives behind the murder of Prince Rwagasore. Besides personal ambitions for power, they accuse Rwagasore of being out of touch with the people. It is only the occasional, albeit hidden, hint by Kageorgis that points to the actual authors and motives of the murder. Only later through archives and linking the testimonies during the trial, does Guy Poppe unveil the real truth of why Rwagasore had to die.
Guy Poppe justifies the ‘Lumumba Burundais’ label onto Rwagasore in that both were pan-Africanist (in the club of Nyerere) and patriotic to their motherlands, despite Rwagasore’s royal birth. Both murdered nine months apart, they fought against the same colonial power and their death impacts on their respective motherlands, half a century into independence.
Assassinated at only age 29, Rwagasore has remained a legend in his motherland. October 13 remains a national day of commemoration. His mausoleum stands defiantly on Kiriri hill, overlooking Bujumbura city below [the first tourist attraction we were taken to visit while we were students at Université du Burundi in 1992, and has since formed part of my itinerary every time am on duty in the country].
His statue graces the entry to the city from the airport, currency notes bear his portrait. His independence slogan (Unité, Travail, Progrès) is the country’s motto. Streets and a hospital are named after him. Ideologically, he has a following in the form of young people who call themselves Abashingantahe ba Rwagasore (Knights of Rwagasore). In Gitega, the old capital, his election campaign commitment is preserved: ‘You Shall Judge Us by Our Actions and Your Satisfaction Shall be Our Pride’.
The book is a worthwhile addition to the story of Africa’s entry into the global arena over the last five centuries or so. At East African level, an English version of the book would help reach a bigger readership, shedding more light on Burundi, which, according to Charles Onyango Obbo, remains the neglected child of the family.
Technically, more editing may help remove ambiguities and some factual errors. For example, the assassination occurs in October 1961, but Kageorgis writes appealing for clemency in June 1960. Nonetheless, great effort was made to domesticate the book from the original meant for a Belgian readership, but with fidelity uncompromised. A great work for reflection, as the stain of The Great Lakes Crisis refuses to go away.
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Book Summary:
Title:
L’assassinat de Rwagasore, le Lumumba Burundais
Publisher: Editions Iwacu, Bujumbura
Year: 2012.
Pages: 243
Original title: Der moord op Rwagasore, de Burundese Lumumba
Publisher: ACE Europe
Year: 2011.
Translation from Dutch: Liesbert Walckiers
