DATE=1/15/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=BURUNDI - REGROUPMENT POLICY (CQ)
NUMBER=5-45253
BYLINE=CHALLISS MCDONOUGH
DATELINE=BUJUMBURA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Officials in Burundi say at least 17 people
died in a rebel ambush Thursday, on a road about 50
kilometers from the capital, Bujumbura. The Burundian
army has been fighting a rebel insurgency for more
than six years. The government has forced more than
300-thousand civilians out of their homes and into
protected camps because of rebel attacks. This so-
called "regroupment" policy has been strongly
criticized both at home and from the international
community. But as V-O-A's Challiss McDonough reports
from Bujumbura, the government insists it is the best
way to deter rebel attacks.
TEXT: The government calls them "regroupment camps."
Thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of civilians
are now living side by side in closely-guarded
communities. By all accounts, conditions in many of
the camps are horrible. Some of them have no sources
of drinking water and malnutrition is a growing
problem.
The international community has criticized the
decision to regroup civilians, as have some Burundi
politicians. Opposition leader Domitien Ndayizeye
says his Frotabu party wants to see the camps
disbanded.
/// NDAYIZEYE ACT IN FRENCH-ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER ///
He says Frotabu thinks the "regroupment" policy is a
violation of human rights. Mr. Ndayizeye says the
government did not prepare people for the move into
the camps. He says people are dying of starvation and
disease.
Although there has been fighting in rural parts of
Burundi for years, a series of intense rebel attacks
on the capital (Bujumbura) sparked the sudden
"regroupment" of civilians at the end of September.
Presidential spokesman Appolinaire Gahungu says the
security situation had deteriorated so badly that it
was verging on full-scale war. He says he knows
conditions are bad in the camps, but he predicts many
more people would have died in the fighting if the
government had not regrouped them for their own
protection.
/// GAHUNGU ACT ///
We know that they are not very popular. They
are not going to be good, but they are only to
take the time for security to be restored around
the capital city and when the enemy is
completely flushed out, then the people are
going to be allowed to go back to their
homesteads.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Gahungu says he thinks the camps will be disbanded
soon, although he refuses to name a specific time.
In the meantime, international aid agencies have
spearheaded the effort to get food, water and other
supplies to the displaced residents.
David Rothrock heads the Burundi operation of Catholic
Relief Services,a U-S - based aid group. He
acknowledges that before the "regroupment" started,
there was tremendous pressure on the government to
protect people from rebel attacks.
/// 1st ROTHROCK ACT ///
I think the fear in the city, when there were
attacks on the city, there was a lot of fear and
I think it was real fear, because people were
killed. Relatives of some of our own employees
have been killed, so I really appreciate
[understand] that fear. They had to find a way
to protect the city and to stop these attacks.
I'm not sure I agree with their methods.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Rothrock says the government could have found
other ways to protect civilians.
But one long-time observer says it is not clear what
else could have been done to control the situation.
Jan van Eck is with the Center for Conflict Resolution
at South Africa's University of Cape Town.
/// VAN ECK ACT ///
So whereas one obviously never condones forcible
Regroupments, from a security point of view it
Works, and none of us are able to come up a
better alternative. How do you meet the
security needs of the government and not have
people living under such conditions?
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Van Eck says it does no good to criticize the
policy without offering a viable alternative.
The presidential spokesman, Mr. Gahungu, says the
"regroupment" measures are working. He says security
around the capital has improved dramatically in recent
months. But several camp residents told V-O-A the
security situation in the countryside where they live
has not changed.
/// CAMP RESIDENTS ACT-ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER ///
This man, who did not want to give his name, says when
the government decided to gather people into camps,
they said it was just for a few days, just long enough
to push the rebels out of the area. But he says the
rebels are still around: the resettlement is not
getting rid of them.
The political impact of the "regroupment" is not yet
clear. Mr. Rothrock of Catholic Relief Services
worries that forcing people to live in squalid camps
will turn them against the government and possibly
even encourage rebel recruitment.
/// 2nd ROTHROCK ACT ///
My worry is that in this struggle for peace
between the two sides here is the need for the
government to win the hearts of the people, and
I do not think that regrouping - forcefully
regrouping - 350-thousand people outside their
homes is going to win the hearts of the people.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Rothrock says for the government, winning the
people's confidence would be the biggest step yet
toward peace. (Signed)
NEB/CM/TVM-T/PT/WTW
15-Jan-2000 01:25 AM EDT (15-Jan-2000 0625 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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