“Even if you try to kill every Tutsi," I argued, "you will never win the war. It’s not the Tutsi that caused this crisis. It’s been caused by some individuals. The people here you want to hurt, are my friends and relatives even though they are Tutsi and I am a Hutu. What good will there be in harming them?”

We continued quarrelling and they threated to take me away together with my guests. They said they were given orders by their militia Commander to take away the Tutsi. I still refused. It took courage, but I lied and said that I knew their Commander personally. They should go back and tell him that I refused to surrender my guests. He should then come himself or write a letter that confirms that it was he authorised my guests be taken away. I had letters signed by him that would help me to verify his handwriting and his signature, I said. They insisted that they would not leave without my guests. I told them that I would be prepared to die before I allowed my guests to be taken away.

Finally I offered to go together with them to their Commander. They agreed. But after we walked for around 200m, they ordered me to go back home. They agreed to ask their Commander to come himself or to write a letter. They left us at around 9AM. They came back at around 2PM. I asked to see the letter from the Commander. They said they didn’t get it. However, they said once again that they were going to take away my guests. After all, they are Tutsi.

Yes, they are Tutsi, I agreed. And I am Hutu. But still all of us are human and we all are Barundi. No innocent person should be killed because of his ethnicity or because of his ideas. Even when someone has committed crimes, only a court can judge him.

Many of my guests were women, and among them there were some Hutu. They were all afraid. The Hutu women started saying that they should not be taken away because they were not Tutsi. I told my guests they should not to identify themselves by their ethnicity. "Everyone has the right to live." I told them that they had to be courageous.