DATE=3/30/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=BURUNDI / RIGHTS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260765
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A U-N special investigator says the human-
rights situation in Burundi has worsened during the
past year. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the
investigator says so-called - regroupment - camps are
largely to blame for the increase in human-rights
violations.
TEXT: The investigator, who gave her report to the U-
N Human Rights Commission, says the civil war in
Burundi dominates every aspect of society.
The investigator, Marie-Therese Keita Bocoum, says the
intensifying conflict between the Tutsi-led government
and Hutu rebels has resulted in a rise in human rights
violations. She says both the rebels and the army are
guilty of rights violations.
The U-N investigator says one of the biggest problems
facing the country is the forced displacement of
civilians into the regroupment camps. She says the
government has moved about 300-thousand people into 50
camps.
/// KEITA BOCOUM ACT ONE - IN FRENCH - FADE UNDER ///
Ms. Keita Bocum says the very existence of the
regroupment camps is a violation of human rights. She
says people are not able to move freely. They are not
able to work. She also says the camps violate the
right to food, to education, and to health.
Ms. Keita Bocoum went to Burundi in October to
investigate the human-rights situation. She says her
freedom of movement was curtailed because several U-N
aid workers had been killed and injured by the rebels.
Nevertheless, she was able to visit one of the
regroupment camps and says she was shocked by what she
saw.
/// KEITA BOCOUM ACT TWO - IN FRENCH - FADE UNDER ///
Ms. Keita Bocoum says the Burundi government claims
the camps were established to protect people from the
civil war and from rebel attacks. But she says these
arguments fly in the face of reality. She calls
conditions in the camps deplorable. She says people
are living in a precarious state.
The U-N investigator says she is particularly
concerned about children and women. She says children
do not go to school, and their state of health is bad
because of unsanitary conditions and a lack of food.
Ms. Keita Bocoum says she is pleased that Burundi's
government has begun to dismantle the camps. But, she
says it is happening far too slowly and they should be
closed more quickly. (SIGNED)
NEB/LS/JWH/RAE
30-Mar-2000 08:51 AM EDT (30-Mar-2000 1351 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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