DATE=2/15/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=BURUNDI DISPLACED
NUMBER=5-45456
BYLINE=TODD PITMAN
DATELINE=KAYERO, BURUNDI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Fighting between government troops and Hutu
rebels in Burundi has displaced thousands of civilians
in the east of the country since the beginning of the
year. Reporter Todd Pitman recently visited Burundi's
eastern province of Rutana, and has more on the story.
TEXT: Aloys Nyawenda has a house in the mountain
village of Kayero, set high up on a craggy ridge in
eastern Burundi.
But when night falls, he - like thousands of others -
does not sleep in it.
Residents say roaming bands of Hutu rebels, who are
waging a brutal civil war against Burundi's mostly
Tutsi army, launch raids in the area every night,
combing the hills for food, money, and medicine.
Most people in Kayero, around 95-kilometers southeast
of the capital, Bujumbura, stay close to their homes
during the day, but abandon them at night for fear of
attacks.
Mr. Nyawenda, a 45-year-old businessman who now lives
in a displaced camp in Kayero, says rebels attacked
his house last month.
/// NYAWENDA ACT ONE IN FRENCH, ESTABLISH AND FADE
///
Mr. Nyawenda says rebels used rifle butts to break the
windows and doors of his house. Once inside, they
took everything they could and then set it on fire.
All that is left today are charred windows, a fallen
roof, and a floor covered with broken bottles and
shattered plates.
Thirty-one-year-old Jean-Pierre Mpfayokurera is a
government administrator in the area.
/// MPFAYOKURERA ACT ONE IN FRENCH, ESTABLISH AND
FADE ///
Mr. Mpfayokurera says rebels come every night to loot
and burn houses, and sometimes kill people who have no
money to give.
He says the military is organizing civilian units to
help them patrol the area at night, but that has done
little to improve security.
Military officials say the border region is especially
vulnerable because of its proximity to Tanzania, where
more than 300-thousand Burundian refugees are housed
in U-N operated camps. Burundi says the camps are
used by rebels to arm, train, and launch cross-border
raids, but Tanzania denies the charges.
Emmanuel Mbonirema is the governor of Rutana province.
/// MBONIREMA ACT ONE IN FRENCH, ESTABLISH AND FADE
///
Governor Mbonirema says rebels have been launching
attacks from bases inside Tanzania. He says people in
Rutana have fled the attacks, taking refuge around
schools, government offices, and parishes.
Burundi has long criticized Tanzania for failing to
move the camps farther away from the border - to a
distance of 150-kilometers, which it says is required
by international law.
/// MBONIREMA ACT TWO IN FRENCH, ESTABLISH AND FADE
///
Governor Mbonirema says the camps are too close to the
border. Burundi authorities, he says, have always
asked Tanzania to move them away, but so far, there
has been no response.
Governor Mbonirema says the frontier, which extends
for several-hundred kilometers along the eastern edge
of Burundi, is too vast to defend against rebel
infiltration.
The devastation inside Burundi is evident. Dozens and
dozens of orange-brick houses lie burnt-out or
abandoned along a dirt road that runs near the border.
Army trucks full of soldiers - fresh from an operation
against rebel troops farther to the north - rumble one
after another down the road.
Peace talks aimed at ending the conflict are due to
begin February 21st under the mediation of former
South African President Nelson Mandela. (SIGNED)
NEB/TP/GE/RAE
15-Feb-2000 10:00 AM EDT (15-Feb-2000 1500 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
