Burundi: Inside the Search for 14 Alleged Mass Graves

In an exclusive interview, Pierre‑Claver Mbonimpa - the exiled head of APRODH and survivor of multiple assassination attempts - told Elsa Buchanan that his organisation had identified 14 alleged mass graves across Burundi. Speaking from Belgium, he described a covert network of insiders within state institutions, including members of the SNR, military, and police, who quietly passed on locations in Bujumbura Mairie, Bujumbura province, Bubanza, Muramvya, Ngozi, and Gitega. These contacts, acting out of conscience, enabled APRODH to verify the sites despite escalating repression, offering a rare window into how evidence of abuses was gathered under immense danger.