Women's rights activists want their offices reopened

Some 216 members of the Union of Burundi Women, the country's first feminist movement, have demanded that the minister of information and government spokesman, Luc Rukingama, reopens their offices given them by Prince Louis Rwagasore, the acknowledged father of Burundi's independence and co-founder of the predominantly Tutsi ruling party, the Union for National Progress, or Uprona. The Union, which was previously part of Uprona, has since organised itself into an autonomous entity. The women also say they do not recognise Rukingama as chairman of Uprona. A Burundi news agency, Net Press, did not say why the Union's office was shut down. However, it reported the women as saying that some [political] leaders were trying to suppress the Union's activities and "hide the ongoing genocide" in the country.