As Burundians on Monday marked the 41st anniversary of the assassination of Burundi's last King Charles Ndizeye Ntare V, political parties and civil society called on the government to bury the remains of the late king with dignity, they said here in press conferences on Monday.

The Parliamentary Monarchist Party (PMP-Abagenderabanga) commended the government's efforts to search where the remains of the late King Ntare V had been buried and called on the government to resume the operation in order to make a "royal burial" for the last king.

"We call on the government to resume the search of the remains of King Ntare V in order to bury them with dignity. The burial of the King would tranquilize the Burundian population in general and the royal family," said Augustin Nkengurutse, vice-president of the Parliamentary Monarchist Party (PMP-Abagenderabanga).

Nkengurutse urged the Burundian government to talk to some Burundian citizens who were leaders at the period of the assassination of King Ntare V on April 29, 1972.

Nkengurutse said, "Some of those people are still alive and they know many things about the killing of the King. They know where the King was buried and circumstances of his assassination."

The Union pour la Paix et le Development (UPD-Zigamibanga) urged the government to assist victims of the 1972 political crisis, to sanction authors of the massacres and to bury the remains of the killed people with dignity.

The Association for the Remembrance and the Protection of Humanity against International Crimes (AMEPCI-Girubuntu) urged the truth in the assassination of King Ntare V and the establishment of the national mourning day for the victims of the massacres that occurred in Burundi in 1972.

"So far, the truth behind circumstances in the killing of King Ntare V is not yet known. We also call on the government to set up a national mourning day for the victims of the 1972 massacres," said AMEPCI-Girubuntu Chairman Aloys Batungwanayo.

"Several young Burundians need to know the truth. It's in this framework that we organized a testimony day to reflect on the 1972 massacre for the reconciliation amongst Burundians," said Batungwanayo.

King Charles Ndizeye Ntare V was killed at the age of 25 years in the country's central province of Gitega where his palace was located.

In 2012, a team of Belgian experts came to Burundi to look for the King's remains in a mass grave at Tankoma in the outskirts of Gitega town, where the king was believed to be buried, but failed to find his remains.