AI: Burundi bulletin
Ray.Mi...@amnesty.org.uk
+ AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN +
+ Electronic distribution authorised +
+ This bulletin expires: 23 September 1999. +
+------------------------------------------------------+
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 16/17/99
13 August 1999
UA 207/99 Extrajudicial executions / Fear of further
extrajudicial executions
BURUNDI
Unarmed civilians, Kanyosha and Kabezi
communes, Rural Bujumbura Province
Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of the civilian
population in Kanyosha and Kabezi communes, Rural Bujumbura
province, as scores of unarmed civilians including children have
reportedly been indiscriminately killed by members of the armed
forces since 10 August.
The final death toll is not yet known. However,some sources
claim that over 100 bodies have already been counted in Busoro
and Nkenga areas, and more remain hidden in houses destroyed
during the military operation. The area has been closed off by
the armed forces and military operations are reported to be
continuing. Members of parliament who attempted to visit the
area on 12 August were not permitted to do so by the armed
forces. Scores more killings are reported to have taken place
early on 12 August in nearby Ruziba, Kabezi commune. On 10
August at around 11am, members of an armed opposition group
attacked a market in Kanyosha, close to the capital. At least one
member of the security forces was killed in the attack. The armed
opposition group reportedly looted the market undisturbed and
left towards the hills overlooking Bujumbura. The subsequent
sequence of events is still unclear. It appears that following
the departure of the armed opposition, soldiers, reportedly
accompanied by armed civilians, returned with reinforcements,
including heavy weapons. Civilians fleeing towards the capital
were turned back by soldiers and ordered to return to their
homes. In the afternoon of 10 August and continuing into 11
August, soldiers, again according to some reports, accompanied
by armed civilians, attacked, burnt and pillaged houses in the
Busoro and Nkenga areas, killing inhabitants they found. Around
30 unarmed civilians may also have been shot and killed by
members of the armed forces as they fled Kanyosha market.
On 12 August, upto 70 unarmed people are reported to have been
extrajudicially executed by soldiers from the Gitaramuka military
post, Ruziba, Kabezi. Soldiers stopped people going into
Bujumbura from the hills, making them wait by the road at Butoza.
They reportedly asked them for information on the armed
opposition, following the attack on Kanyosha market. For reasons
that are not clear, soldiers reportedly then shot, and threw
grenades into the group of people, estimated to have been between
100 and 200. There is no confirmed death toll, but first reports
suggest that up to 80 people may have been killed.
Other extrajudicial executions have been carried out in Bujumbura
itself. On 7 August, two people, Melchior Magoranwa and Audace
Gashimwe, were beaten to death with iron rods and sticks at a
military position in Buterere I, Cibitoke zone, Bujumbura. Five
others were injured, three of them seriously. Soldiers from the
post have been removed but not charged with a criminal offence.
The seven victims are reported to have been accused of breaking
the curfew and suspected collaboration with the armed opposition.
Another man, Rashid Delachance, was reportedly beaten to death
on 9 August by police officers in Ngagara, Bujumbura. Two police
officers have been arrested.
Amnesty International is appealing for the Government of Burundi
to ensure that unarmed civilians taking no part in the
hostilities are not targeted by its forces during
counter-insurgency operations. It is also appealing for the
armed opposition to refrain from committing human rights abuses.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Armed opposition groups have been increasingly active in Rural
Bujumbura in recent weeks, and have attacked areas of the capital
itself several times. Both sides have committed human rights
abuses. Members of the armed opposition have carried out scores
of deliberate and arbitrary killings. Reprisals by the armed
forces have been brutal and indiscriminate. At least 600 unarmed
civilians are reported to have been killed by the armed forces
in Rural Bujumbura since November 1998. These killings appear to
be almost exclusively extrajudicial executions as acts of
reprisal, rather than resulting directly from the conflict.
Virtually none of the killings have been the subject of impartial
independent investigations.
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ Supporters of Amnesty International around the world are +
+ writing urgent appeals in response to the concerns +
+ described above. If you would like to join with them in +
+ this action or have any queries about the Urgent Action +
+ network or Amnesty International in general, please +
+ contact one of the following: +
+ +
+ Ray Mitchell, u...@amnesty.org.uk (UK) +
+ Scott Harrison, shar...@igc.apc.org (USA) +
+ Guido Gabriel, ggab...@amnesty.cl.sub.de (Germany) +
+ Marilyn McKim, mmc...@amnesty.ca (Canada) +
+ u...@aibf.be (Belgium) +
+ Anne Nolan, u...@amnesty.iol.ie (Ireland) +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+