Burundi: Escalating Violence Demands Action

Embargoed for Release:
Friday, November 29, 2002
At 00:01 GMT
(For Friday's newspapers)

Burundi: Escalating Violence Demands Action

(New York, November 29, 2002) - Recent army massacres of civilians and
bombardment of the capital by the rebel Forces for the Defense of
Democracy (FDD) are raising the risk of further widespread killing of
civilians in Burundi, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper
released today.

International donors meeting in Geneva and regional leaders meeting in
Dar es Salaam this week must apply maximum pressure to get the Burundian
government and rebel forces to protect civilians and to agree to a
ceasefire in the nine-year war, Human Rights Watch said.

The recent movement of thousands of well-armed FDD combatants into
northwestern Burundi have heightened fears of an all-out rebel attack on
the capital, Bujumbura. A second and smaller rebel group, the National
Liberation Forces, also occupies the hills around Bujumbura. The rebel
forces are largely Hutu while a large number of Bujumbura residents are
Tutsi.

The briefing paper also documents a series of army massacres of
civilians since July, the worst of which killed at least 174 persons.
Scores more were killed in five other military attacks. Most highly
placed army officers are Tutsi; most of the victims in the killings are
Hutu.

On November 22 and 23, the FDD bombarded heavily populated civilian
neighborhoods of the capital, killing five persons and wounding others.
Earlier in the month, they shelled the provincial capital of Gitega.

Army and civilian officials have said civilians will be treated as
rebels if they do not flee rebel forces, while a rebel spokesman has
warned civilians to clear out of the capital.

"Attacks against civilians are on the rise in Burundi, and that's a very
dangerous sign," said Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to the Africa
Division of Human Rights Watch. "Both government army officers and rebel
commanders must hold their troops accountable for these deliberate
attacks on ordinary people who have no place to run."

The briefing also documents cases of children abducted to serve in rebel
forces.

It is available online at
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/burundi/burundi1128.pdf.

For more information, please contact:
In Buffalo, Alison Des Forges: +1-716-881-2758
In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +32-2-732-2009
In London, Steve Crawshaw: +44-20-7713-2766

--
Jeff Scott
Africa Division
Human Rights Watch
Phone: +1-212-216-1834
Fax: +1-212-736-1300
http://www.hrw.org/africa/index.php
en français, http://www.hrw.org/french/africa/