On 25 April 2020, exactly five years after Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would run for a third term, I attended the virtual screening of a new documentary.
The Burundian survivors interviewed share one thing in common: they all lived in neighborhoods that actively protested against Nkurunziza's third term in 2015 and were raped by security forces in retaliation.
My family and I prayed for the wife and children Nkurunziza leaves behind tonight.
I cry for the country we could have had these past five years; for the blood that could have been spared; for the memories families could have built together; for the amputated limbs of our young protestors; for the elderly who walked kilometres to end their lives in refugee camps; for the million little broken pieces so many of us have become.
Nkurunziza may find peace in death, but his victims will live with the wounds of his rule for the rest of their lives.
