The civilian population of Burundi feels trapped between the two sides in the civil war, as both the armed forces and the rebels have used civilians as proxy targets. The civil war raging in Burundi since October 1993 has above all been a war against civilians. When Major Pierre Buyoya took power in a July 1996 coup, he claimed that he was intervening to prevent an expansion of ethnic violence. Since then, however, the armed forces of Burundi have engaged in massive violations of human rights.