DATE=12/29/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=YEARENDER: BURUNDI REBELS
NUMBER=5-45141
BYLINE=CHALLISS MCDONOUGH
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Nineteen-Ninety-Nine was a rough year in the
quest for peace in Burundi. Continued rebel attacks
prompted a massive resettlement of civilians, which in
turn has resulted in outbreaks of disease in camps for
displaced people. And the death of a mediator in
October dealt a severe blow to the peace process. V-
O-A's Challiss McDonough reports from our East Africa
bureau.
TEXT: The year started on a positive note for
Burundi. In January, East African nations agreed to
end the economic sanctions imposed on the country two
years earlier. Burundi's neighbors had hoped to use
financial pressure to force Burundi President Pierre
Buyoya to the negotiating table after he seized power
in a 1996 coup. But by early 1999, smugglers were
growing rich from breaking the embargo, and there was
general agreement the sanctions were doing more harm
than good.
/// OPT /// At the time, Nigel Marsh of the aid
group World Vision International said the sanctions
were hurting the people of Burundi, not the
government.
/// OPT // MARSH ACT ///
The poor people, ordinary civilians, are the
ones who are suffering, and we have noticed that
across the whole country, the whole area in
which we are working, not just in the
locations where the fighting is carrying on.
Whatever the world community wants to do with
Burundi, it must find another way to do it.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
East African leaders suspended the sanctions, saying
they were encouraged by Mr. Buyoya's efforts to bring
the rebels into the peace process. But ongoing talks
in Arusha, Tanzania, still failed to yield a peace
agreement.
Mr. Buyoya blamed the impasse on divisions within the
Hutu rebel movement.
/// BUYOYA ACT ///
There is some problem now. Some of the armored
factions are divided. Some groups are
negotiating, others are still outside, but I
think that we are going to have all the groups
at the negotiating table. For me, this is the
way we have chosen to end the armed conflict in
Burundi.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Buyoya continued to face criticism from majority
Hutus who said he needed to do more to share power in
the Burundi government. And they said the peace
negotiations in Arusha still did not include the
main rebel group that was still actively fighting his
government.
Then, in October, the man at the center of the Burundi
peace talks died. Many onlookers feared the peace
process would not survive the death of mediator
Julius Nyerere. The former Tanzanian president had
spent years trying to foster dialogue between the
Tutsi-led Burundi government and the mainly Hutu
rebels.
Speaking at Mr. Nyerere's funeral, Kenyan President
Daniel arap Moi urged the international community to
continue the work of the man widely known as
"Mwalimu," the Swahili word for teacher.
/// MOI ACT ///
The people of this region, with the help of all
you from around the world, should ensure that
Mwalimu's efforts do not come to naught. I
believe that his efforts will be continued so
that the people of Burundi can attain lasting
peace.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// But despite his dedication to the
peace process, Mr. Nyerere was a controversial
mediator. Burundi's ethnic Tutsi military had opposed
his arbitration, and Mr. Buyoya accused him of
favoring the largely Hutu rebels. /// END OPT ///
After Mr. Nyerere's death, the Burundi negotiators
needed a mediator who could command the respect of
both sides. They found him in early December, when
former South African President Nelson Mandela agreed
to step into the void. Experts say his standing as
Africa's most respected leader and statesman could put
extra pressure on both the government and rebels to
finally reach a peace agreement.
The death of Mr. Nyerere was not the only setback to
the peace process. Rebels escalated their attacks in
and near the capital, Bujumbura, killing scores of
people.
In September, the Burundi army began herding hundreds
of thousands of civilians into resettlement camps.
The government said it wanted to protect people from
further attacks. But it also wanted to make sure the
mostly Hutu civilians were not aiding the Hutu
rebels.
International aid groups condemned the move, calling
in a humanitarian disaster. They said the camps lack
clean drinking water and even the most basic
sanitation.
Shortly before Mr. Nyerere's death in October, rebels
attacked a resettlement camp, killing two U-N aid
workers and six Burundi civilians. After the
shootings, the United Nations suspended all relief
operations in Burundi outside the capital for five
weeks. World Food Program spokeswoman Michele
Quintaglie explained the decision.
/// QUINTAGLIE ACT ///
We know that there are people in Burundi who
cannot survive without this life-saving
assistance going into these areas. So we are
not going to pull out, but we are clearly going
to have to reevaluate how we operate in this
environment.
/// END ACT ///
Without U-N aid workers, conditions in the camps
deteriorated even further. International aid agencies
and human rights groups have continued to urge the
country to disband the camps, calling them squalid,
unsafe, and unsanitary.
Outbreaks of cholera and dysentery have killed scores
of people in the camps, and continued fighting has
killed scores more outside them.
It is in this tense atmosphere that new mediator
Nelson Mandela begins his quest to bring peace to
Burundi.
Observers hope he can bridge the divide between the
government and the rebels. He has an impressive
record, having guided his own nation's attempt to heal
the deep wounds of the apartheid era. Bringing
reconciliation to Burundi is likely to be just as
great a challenge for Africa's most revered
peacemaker. (Signed)
NEB/CEM/JWH/KL
28-DEC-1999 15:39 2542334888 987.P.01
29-Dec-1999 06:58 AM EDT (29-Dec-1999 1158 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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