SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON BURUNDISTRONGLY CONDEMNS “UNSPEAKABLEACTS” NEAR BUJUMBURA ON 1 AND 6 JANUARY

HR/98/1

Pinheiro Underlines That The Conflicting Parties In Burundi Have No Alternative But To Accept To Negotiate With The Support Of The International Community

The Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burundi, Mr. Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro (Brazil), who carried out his fourth mission to Burundi from 7 to 20 December 1997, has heard with profound dismay of the tragic events which took place at dawn on 1 January 1998 near the international airport of Bujumbura in which more than 200 persons were killed.

According to the information which the Special Rapporteur received, rebel groups carried out the attacks on Gakumbu military camp and the international airport of Bujumbura in the district of Mutimbuzi, zone of Rukaramu, province of Bujumbura, around 10 kilometres from the capital. The Burundise army reacted vigorously to the attack. In addition to the losses of the army and the rebels, more than 200 unarmed civilians, most of them children, women and elderly persons who could not flee the fighting, lost their lives. Some 2,000 rebels, mostly militia men and former Rwandan and Zaïrian soldiers, apparently participated in these incidents which are the worse in Bujumbura since the Special Rapporteur took up his duties in May 1995.

In addition, the Special Rapporteur was informed of another incident on 6 January 1998 in the village of Maramvya where around 2,000 persons had taken refuge after the Rukaramu massacre. According to preliminary figures, 15 assailants were killed and 4 soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously. During this incident, which took place early in the morning, the health centre of Maramvya was ransacked and 87 civilians who were in the vicinity were injured.

As these clashes continue, the Special Rapporteur expressed his strong concern about the displacement of some 7,000 persons from the combat zones since the incidents started who took refuge in the hotel club of Tanganyika on the road to Gatumba where they had no water or food. The Special Rapporteur also expressed his condolences to the mourning families, including those who had not found the bodies of their deceased relatives.

The Special Rapporteur strongly condemned these unspeakable acts, whoever the perpetrators were, and solemnly reminded all the protagonists in the Burundi conflict of their obligation to follow the international humanitarian and human rights instruments, of which Burundi was a party to, and to respect the minimal humanitarian rules.

Mr. Pinheiro also wished to drawn the attention of Burundi to the fact that these recent incidents only underlined once again the imperative necessity to establish a cease-fire between all the conflicting parties as soon as possible. He was convinced that there was no solution to resolve Burundi crisis other than to immediately and unconditionally end all hostilities and violence and start a dialogue between all the concerned parties. The conflicting parties had no alternative but to accept to negotiate with the support of the international community.

The Special Rapporteur asked all international parties concerned with the situation in Burundi, especially those countries with historic responsibilities in the Grand Lakes region, to support the ongoing mediation and the upcoming meeting in Arusha. He said these countries should express their strong commitment to end the proliferation and sale of arms in the Great Lakes region.