Burundi: War Crimes May Go Unpunished

Burundi: War Crimes May Go Unpunished
New Report Documents Extent of Civilian Suffering
(New York, December 22, 2003) — The Burundian military and armed opposition forces have
committed serious war crimes, including civilian killings and rapes, Human Rights Watch said in a
new report released today. The recent political agreement between the major parties in
Burundi’s ten-year civil war should not have granted immunity from prosecution for such blatant
and widespread crimes, Human Rights Watch said.

The 63-page report, “Everyday Victims: Civilians in the Burundian War,” documents massacres
and rapes of civilians and attacks on civilian property between April and November, when the
government and the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), the main rebel group signed
an peace accord guaranteeing all sides provisional immunity from prosecution for war crimes.

“Agreements based on immunity from prosecution rarely work,” said Alison Des Forges, senior
adviser to Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division. “The kinds of abuses described in this report
should not go unpunished.”

One example documented in the report: during combat in April with Hutu rebel forces near the
Burundian capital Bujumbura, the Tutsi-dominated military deliberately killed scores of civilians
at Kabezi. In September the military committed similar killings at Muyira and Ruziba.
Meanwhile, during that same period, combatants of the main armed opposition groups—the
FDD and the National Liberation Forces (FNL)—have killed scores of civilians and pillaged
their property.

Both government soldiers and rebel combatants have raped women and girls, a crime committed
with increasing frequency in the capital and surrounding areas in Burundi. In addition, rebel
groups have abducted children for use as combatants.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has acclaimed the agreement, as have other
international leaders, including South Africa’s deputy president, Jacob Zuma, who helped to
broker the accord. But the international community has failed to condemn the guarantee of
provisional immunity to combatants who have committed war crimes.

Proponents of the peace deal have argued that the immunity clauses were necessary to bring as
many parties as possible to the negotiating table. But peace agreements based on ignoring
atrocities in the past very rarely succeed, Human Rights Watch said. The 1999 Lomé Accord
that was supposed to end the civil war in Sierra Leone is one obvious example.

“With the recent agreements, government soldiers and FDD combatants have no need to fear
being held accountable for their conduct,” said Des Forges. “Civilians pay and will continue to
pay the price.”

The FNL, a smaller rebel movement, has refused to negotiate with the government, and combat
continues in and around the capital as government forces, which now sometimes incorporate
current FDD members, fight FNL combatants. Civilians have left the Kinama and Kamenge
sections of Bujumbura, and tens of thousands have fled their homes in the surrounding
hills—sometimes repeatedly—in search of security. Government soldiers have deliberately killed
local civilians in reprisal for FNL killings of soldiers separated from their units.

“Civilians who have been attacked, the ‘everyday victims,’ say they have been forgotten,” Des
Forges said. “Protecting perpetrators of crimes from prosecution victimizes civilians yet again. It
deprives them of any justice for what they have suffered.”

“Everyday Victims” is available during the embargo period at:
http://docs.hrw.org/embargo/burundi1203/ using the username: everyday and password: victims

After the launch of the report, it will be available at:
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/burundi1203/

For further information, please contact:
In Buffalo, N.Y., Alison Des Forges: +1-716-881-2758
In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +322-732-2009
In London, Urmi Shah: +44-207-713-2788