Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Burundi
On Friday October 13, 2023, the Embassy of Burundi in Brussels celebrated the 62nd anniversary of the assassination of the Hero of the national independence of Burundi, Prince Louis RWAGASORE, in communion with Burundians at home and abroad.
The ceremonies began with a requiem Mass celebrated at the Notre-Dame-des-Grâces Church in Brussels. ThE Mass saw the participation of the Head of Diplomatic Mission of Burundi in Brussels H.E Ambassador Thérence NTAHIRAJA and his staff, members of the Royal Family of Burundi, the Representatives of the Family of the Hero of Democracy in Burundi, as well as a large crowd of the Burundian community living in Belgium.
The Mass led by the Burundian Choir was celebrated by a Burundian Priest, Abbot NAHIMANA Daniel. That Servant of God shared very profound messages to the assembly through the texts of the day taken from the Holy Scriptures: “letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Philippians (4,8) and Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (22, 23-27), the homily and the intentions of the universal prayer.
To that end, in his homily, Father Daniel NAHIMANA was able to indicate that in the death of Prince Louis RWAGASORE appears beyond personal sacrifices, the conception of the word: Patriotism, the good servant for the dignity of his people “Umuganwa atari Umugani. Drawing on the heroic figure of Prince Louis RWAGASORE, Abbot Daniel NAHIMANA invited all Leaders to be animated by a servant spirit in the image of RWAGASORE.
The Representative of the royal family, Mr CIZA Remy MUHIRWA, son of Muganwa André Muhirwa, for his part insisted on reconciliation.
H.E Mr Thérence NTAHIRAJA, Ambassador of Burundi in Brussels, had the opportunity to address the present assembly with an appropriate speech. He began by thanking all the participants in the Mass for their presence. He took the opportunity to provide advice by calling on the Burundian community present in that thanksgiving Mass to take a retrospective look at the history of our country, with a view to correcting the errors of the past.
Based on the speech of the Hero of Independence and the evangelical texts of the day, he urged the Burundians living in Belgium to be inspired by his ideology for national unity and reconciliation in order to put an end to all divisions tendencies.
After the Mass, the ceremonies continued in one of the rooms of the Notre-Dame-des-Grâces Church. The participants had the opportunity to listen to the speech given by Prince Louis RWAGASORE after his victory, where he declared that victory belonged to all the Burundian people without distinction of political party or ethnicity, followed by emotional testimonies on the life of the Hero of Independence and closed with the speech of H.E Mr Thérence NTAHIRAJA, Ambassador of Burundi in Brussels.
In his closing speech, H.E. Ambassador Thérence NTAHIRAJA returned to the notion of love, unity, peace and development of Burundi in the image of Prince Louis RWAGASZORE and the Burundians by calling on them to continue to meditate on the readings of the mass and the speech of Prince Louis RWAGASORE. He finally invited everyone to share a drink planned for that day.