BUJUMBURA, March 7th (ABP) – On Thursday 6 March 2025, the Conflict Alert and Prevention Centre (CENAP) organised a national forum in Bujumbura under the theme “Importance of trauma management to win the challenge of sustainable development and peace in Burundi”, for the various public and private stakeholders.
In his opening remarks, Désiré Nitunga, Director General for the Coordination of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the Promotion of Public Liberties at the Ministry of the Interior, Community Development and Public Security, said that that forum was a good opportunity to sit down together as representatives of the country’s different sectors to listen to the activities carried out by CENAP in collaboration with the people of certain of the country’s communes. Those activities, he continued, focused on helping the people to heal the traumas often caused by Burundi’s painful past.
CENAP is already aware that once those traumas have been healed, they constitute a lever for sustainable development and peace, because, he explained, the country would benefit from a strong hand that contributes greatly to increasing production, as part of the effective implementation of the vision of Burundi, an emerging country in 2040 and a developed country in 2060.
Nitunga reassured the audience that the Ministry of the Interior would spare no effort in supporting organisations such as CENAP, which work in accordance with the law and support the people who are working hard to achieve the 2040-2060 vision. “The Ministry of the Interior clearly recognises that trauma management is a matter of urgency if the traumas that many Burundians suffer on a daily basis are to be healed,” he said.
The director of CENAP, Libérate Nakimana, said that the centre was working to consolidate peace. CENAP’s programme is based on two main axes: inclusive dialogue and the search for participatory actions, she pointed out. As far as inclusive dialogue is concerned, CENAP exchanges views with Burundians from all social categories and groups. “We are thinking together to identify potential sources of conflict,” she added.
She pointed out that one of CENAP’s achievements had been to set up permanent dialogue groups between young people and members of political parties, as well as permanent dialogue groups between community leaders in the provinces where it operates, such as Ngozi, Makamba, Bujumbura and Gitega.
“If today we are focusing on trauma management, especially those resulting from the country’s painful past from independence to 2015, it is because those crises have left Burundians traumatised. A person without sound mental health is a person who cannot participate in the life of the country, or in the life of himself or his household,” explained Nakimana.
According to Nakimana, it is for that reason that CENAP has brought together all the stakeholders to inform them of the results already collected on the ground from the victims of those past crises. “If a traumatised person is supported so that they are completely healed, it is easy for them to participate in civic and community life, and in development,” she stressed.
On the subject of CENAP’s interventions at community level, Serges Ntakirutimana and Désiré Tuyishemeze, who work for the centre, said that among the victims who spoke to CENAP, one was on the point of committing suicide, while another victim told CENAP that on election days, she stayed at the border to cross more easily in the event of a dispute. “Now, all those victims are back to normal and we have supported them by giving them training in entrepreneurship for their self-development,” they reassured us.
The Director of the Diocesan Communications Centre (CEDICOM), Abbé Dieudonné Nibizi, who gave a presentation on the importance of trauma management in Burundi and experiences elsewhere, said that a traumatised person does not trust everyone and cannot carry out a long-term project because, he explained, they are only concerned with day-to-day life. Some traumatised people are traumatised because of what they did in the past, he pointed out.
During the discussion session, facilitated by Dr. Achel Niyonizigiye, a consultant in leadership and governance, the speakers acknowledged that the majority of the Burundian population was traumatised by past crises and by social, marital, family, community and economic situations.
Noting that the healing of trauma is a multidimensional issue that requires coordinated efforts and adequate resources, the participants proposed that the care of trauma caused by Burundi’s painful past be integrated into the national priorities for peace and development.
That national forum was attended by various representatives of the country’s institutions; media managers, administrative staff and CENAP employees from the provinces of Muyinga, Kayanza and Gitega, among others; representatives of religious denominations and civil society; representatives of psychologists and many others.