Burundi: Attacks on Civilians Growing

Burundi: Attacks on Civilians Growing

(New York, February 28, 2003) - Recent attacks by government troops, and
the pullout of the main rebel force from a ceasefire agreement, are
combining to put civilians in Burundi in growing danger, Human Rights
Watch said in a briefing paper released today.

Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights Sergio de Mello, who arrives in Bujumbura today, to encourage the
new African peacekeeping force in Burundi to protect civilians.

The Human Rights Watch briefing paper, "Burundi: Civilians Pay the Price
of Faltering Peace Process," documents the recent massacre of at least
thirty-two and possibly more than eighty civilians by Burundian army
soldiers.

According to the briefing paper, Burundian soldiers attacked the hill
Mwegereza in the eastern province of Ruyigi on January 19. After chasing
rebel combatants from the hill, the army troops massacred civilians,
including members of a Burundian church group who had gathered to pray
together. Burundian soldiers also raped women from the area, burned and
pillaged homes, and refused to allow people who fled to return to gather
harvests and work their fields.

A ceasefire agreement signed on December 3, 2002 was supposed to end
military operations, but its vague wording and lack of implementation
left the way open to continuing clashes. On February 21, the rebel
force, National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the
Defense of Democracy (Conseil National pour la Défense de la
Democratie-Forces pour la Défense de la Democratie, CNDD-FDD), renounced
the agreement and broke off negotiations with the Burundian government.

"Protecting civilians needs to be the top priority of the new African
peacekeeping force," said Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to the
Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "The international community
should help to make that happen."

Burundian military authorities have prevented humanitarian agencies from
delivering food and medicine to displaced persons in Ruyigi, claiming
that insecurity makes it impossible for agency representatives to enter
the region.

On February 21, a military court acquitted two officers accused of
directing the massacre of 173 civilians at Itaba in September 2002. The
president of the court said that he personally thought the operation had
been well conducted and he sentenced the defendants to only four months
in prison on charges of not having followed orders. Since the defendants
had been in custody for five months, they were immediately released.
They had spent less than one day in jail for each person killed.

"With that kind of justice," said Des Forges, "soldiers will expect no
punishment for their crimes and will keep on killing and otherwise
abusing civilians."

According to the briefing paper, FDD combatants killed and raped
civilians and pillaged and burned their homes. The rebel movement
violated the ceasefire by continuing to enlist combatants, many of them
children, and by trying to increase areas under its control.

The briefing paper can be found at
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/burundi/burundi0203.pdf