Armed conflict in the world today: a country by country review
Statement: The situation in Burundi is a civil war. Background
Download 0.5 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Current Situation
BURUNDIStatement: The situation in Burundi is a civil war. Background: The two peoples of Rwanda and Burundi, the Tutsi and the Hutu, lived in relative harmony until around a hundred years ago. Under colonization rule by Germany (until 1897 the area was called German East Africa) and then by Belgium, the Tutsi minority was given privileges and education that the Hutu did not receive. In 1962, Rwanda and Burundi became separate, independent countries. Unlike neighboring Rwanda, in Burundi the Tutsi minority kept power after the Belgians were forced to leave. They suppressed bloody Hutu uprisings in 1969, 1972, 1988 and 1993. After attacks on Tutsis in 1972, the Tutsi government issued a paper on “the need to achieve parity through elimination of the Hutu surplus,” and then massacred 300,000 people. Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu and the first democratically elected president, was murdered by the Tutsi-dominated army in 1993. Subsequent fighting resulted in more than 150,000 dead. His successor, Cyprien Ntaryamira died with the president of Rwanda when their plane was shot down. A subsequent peace pact that divided power between a Hutu president and a Tutsi prime minister ended when the Hutu president Sylvestre Ntibantuganya was removed from power by the military in July 1996, and Pierre Buyoya seized the presidency, which he still holds. The most recent violence began with the arrival of refugees responsible for the Rwandan massacre (see “Rwanda”). The current fighting began in 1996 between the Hutu rebels (The National Council for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD)) and the Tutsi-dominated army. Tens of thousands of civilians fled to refugee camps in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In October 1996, the then-rebel force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo dispersed the camps on the Burundi /Rwanda borders where Hutu rebels from both countries had been based. Over a hundred thousand civilian Hutu refugees who had fled attacks by Burundi’s army were also forced back over the border. There were numerous reports of disappearances of returning refugees and confirmed accounts of refugee massacres in Burundi and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some of the refugees fled to Tanzania where there were already over a hundred thousand people from conflicts throughout the region. The fighting continued throughout 1997 and 1998. 1998 began with an attack near Bujumbura’s airport killing as many as 300, for which both the CNDD and the government denied responsibility. The attack left as many as 15,000 newly homeless, joining the tens of thousands of people already displaced. The CNDD has accused the army of killing almost 40,000 civilians since its 1996 coup, while the Burundian officials accuse the rebels of massacres On January 28, 1998, Colonel Firmin Sinzoyiheba, Burundian Minister of Defense, was killed in a helicopter crash. Current Situation: The regional sanctions imposed by six African countries after the 1996 coup were suspended on January 23, 1999. In spite of the sanctions, weaponry continued to reach both government and CNDD forces. The sanctions dramatically affected the Burundian civilian population, and more than a year after the lifting of the sanctions malnutrition is still widespread, and health and healthcare have deteriorated to a level of deepest concern. Shortages of seed and fertilizer place future harvests at great risk. By December 1997 the UN Rapporteur had urged a halt to the sanctions. There are now at least three different groups fighting in Burundi, with the main groups being the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People (Palipehutu) and its military wing the National Liberation Forces (NLF); the Front for National Liberation (Frolina); and the CNDD and its military wing the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD). There are reports that these groups use bases inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Reliable information supports accusations of mass killings of unarmed civilians by all parties. The Burundian Army is said to target Hutu civilians in reprisal for opposition armed attacks. The Army has also been accused of rape, torture and killing detainees. Opposition groups have also been accused of attacking refugees. About 600,000 people (one-tenth of the population) are internally displaced, and there has been considerable forced relocation of Hutu civilians into widely condemned “regroupment” camps, blamed for many deaths and the destruction of houses and crops. A cease-fire has been in effect since July, 1998, although there continues to be numerous clashes. In 1999, Nelsen Mandela agreed to mediate. Just prior to his first visit to the country on April 28, 2000, there was renewed fighting near Bujumbura as well as other locations in spite of a call for cease fire. Mr. Mandela seeks to achieve an agreement with the Burundi armed forces on power-sharing. After Mr. Mandela’s visit, there was an increase in the clashes, leading to thousands of additional displaced persons in the south. Mr. Mandela held a second round of separate talks in Johannesburg with the different factions, leading to promises for a draft proposal by the end of June, subsequently postponed to allow the two main rebel groups time to for further study. At the end of May, the fighting intensified near Bujumbura. On June 7, 2000 Mr. Mandela reached an agreement with President Buyoya on two key points: (1) army restructuring along ethnically-equal lines; and (2) the closure of the Hutu “regroupment” camps by July 31. There is a planned “all party” session in July 2000 in Arusha, Tanzania. Over 200,000 people have been killed in this war since Ndadaye’s assassination in 1993. UN Action: (See also UN Action on Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo.) SC Res 1286 (1/19/2000). SC Res 1080 (11/15/96). SC Res 1078 (11/9/96). SC Res 1072 (8/30/96). SC Res 1049 (3/5/96). SC Res 1040 (1/29/96). SC Res 1012 (8/28/95). GA Res 50/159 (12/22/95). GA Res 49/7 (10/25/94). GA Res 48/17 (1993). Comm Res 2000/20. Comm Res 1999/10. Comm Res 1998/82. Comm Res 1997/77. Comm Res 1996/1. Comm Res 1995/90. Comm Res 1994/86. Sub-Comm Res 1996/4. Sub-Comm Res 1996/3. Sub-Comm Res 1995/11. Sub-Comm Res 1994/17. Rpt S-G (S/1997/547). 2nd Rpt S-G (S/1995/65). Rpt S-G (E/CN.4/1995/66). Rpt S-G (S/1994/1152). Report of the Security Council Mission: S/1994/1039; S/1995/164. Notes by the Secretariat: E/CN.4/1999/43; E/CN.4/2000/34. Report of the Special Rapporteur: Paulo Sergio Pinheiro: E/CN.4/1996/16 & Add.1; E/CN.4/1997/12 & Add.1; E/CN.4/1998/72 & Add.1.
E/CN.4/1994/26; E/CN.4/1995/36; E/CN.4/1996/38; E/CN.4/1997/34; E/CN.4/1998/43; E/CN.4/1999/62; E/CN.4/2000/64.
Nigel S. Rodley: E/CN.4/1995/34; E/CN.4/1996/35 & Add.1; E/CN.4/1997/7 & Add.1; E/CN.4/1998/38 & Add.1; E/CN.4/1999/61; E/CN.4/2000/9. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions: Bacre Waly N’diaye: E/CN.4/1995/61; E/CN.4/1996/4 & Add.1; E/CN.4/1997/60 & Add.1; E/CN.4/1998/68 & Add.1. Asma Jahangir: E/CN.4/1999/39 & Add. 1; E/CN.4/2000/3 & Add.1.
Francis M. Deng: E/CN.4/1995/50/Add.2 & Corr.1; E/CN.4/1997/43. Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict: Olara Otunnu: E/CN.4/2000/71. Directory: docs docs -> Application for acem docs -> Observational Assessment of Teaching Practices Teaching Assessment Initiative Proposal Submitted to The Teachers for a New Era project docs -> Traditional British values docs -> From Warfighters to Crimefighters: The Origins of Domestic Police Militarization docs -> Borzoi Club of America Register of Merit Program I. What is a Register Of Merit docs -> Protecting the rights of the child in the context of migration docs -> United Nations E/C. 12/Esp/5 docs -> 9th May 1950 the schuman declaration docs -> Getting To Outcomes® in Services for Homeless Veterans 10 Steps for Achieving Accountability Download 0.5 Mb. Share with your friends:
|