Clinton Should Back Effective Justice in Burundi

(08/22/00) -- At the August 28 signing ceremony for a Burundi peace accord, President Bill Clinton should pledge U.S. support for prompt, effective justice to punish serious crimes committed during the war, Human Rights Watch said today.

Clinton can turn his few hours in Arusha into an event of historic significance for the six million Burundians devastated by this brutal war. To do so, he has to back a treaty that will really work -- one that ensures accountability for the guilty, whether Hutu or Tutsi--and he has to pledge U.S. aid to make international justice possible. Peter Takirambudde, Executive Director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch

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Clinton is scheduled to appear at a signing ceremony to mark the end of a civil war that has pitted Hutu against Tutsi in Burundi, and that has cost the lives of well over 100,000 people in the last six years. Most of the victims have been civilians killed by Burundian armed forces or by the Burundian rebels.  
 
"Clinton can turn his few hours in Arusha into an event of historic significance for the six million Burundians devastated by this brutal war," said Peter Takirambudde, Executive Director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "To do so, he has to back a treaty that will really work -- one that ensures accountability for the guilty, whether Hutu or Tutsi--and he has to pledge U.S. aid to make international justice possible."  
 
The accord calls for an international inquiry into genocide and war crimes in Burundi and for an international tribunal to be set up by the U.N. Security Council. A previous U.N. commission found that genocide and war crimes had been committed in Burundi in 1993 and recommended international trials, but none were held.  
 
"Investigation without effective prosecution amounts to amnesty," cautioned Takirambudde. Some negotiators once favored an amnesty for all sides in Burundi, a practice that Takirambudde says was discredited in Sierra Leone. There rebel leader Foday Sankoh was granted amnesty in return for his signature on a peace treaty and resumed his war crimes soon after the agreement was signed.  
 
Takirambudde deplored the recent upsurge in violence that may derail the scheduled signing of the treaty or upset its implementation. He called for the international tribunal to have an open-ended mandate, like that of the International Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. This would enable prosecution of any who commit crimes in the wake of the accord. "Ongoing atrocities and reported preparations for further violence make it essential for the tribunal to be able to function until the Security Council decides the conflict is really ended. That way it has the greatest power to deter troublemakers who may incite violence to block the settlement," said Takirambudde.