(New York) - Burundian army soldiers forced more than 30,000 civilians from their homes in Ruyigi province in eastern Burundi in late April and early May, Human Rights Watch said today. Burundian authorities have refused to allow humanitarian aid groups to provide assistance to the displaced persons, who are suffering from malnutrition and disease.
Soldiers forced people to head for these regroupment sites by firing in the air," said Alison Des Forges, Senior Advisor to the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. Authorities call the camps "protection sites" and say they were created at the request of the people. "Camp residents protest that they had no voice in this and want only to go home," said Des Forges.
Beginning on April 27, soldiers ordered civilians to move immediately to the sites and refused to allow those caught at the market or on the roads to return home to get basic necessities. Authorities provided no shelter, food, water, or sanitation facilities at the sites, in violation of article 17 of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. After spending one night outside in a cold rain, the displaced persons built temporary shelters the next morning.
Authorities have excluded aid workers, saying the area is "insecure." Rebels of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), fighting the Burundian government for the last seven years, make frequent incursions into eastern Burundi from bases in neighboring Tanzania.
Representatives of United Nations agencies were permitted to visit the camps for the first time yesterday in the company of government officials. They reportedly reached agreement on a safe corridor for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to begin later this week.
Authorities also excluded the press and in early May detained two journalists from a national radio station when they attempted to enter one of the camps. After releasing the journalists, authorities warned them not to try to return to the camp.
According to camp residents, they are allowed to leave the sites one or at most two days a week which is not enough to allow them to care for their fields and seek supplies at home.
Camp residents accused the military of beating and torture, arbitrary arrests, and prolonged detention in communal lockups. They say the soldiers raped and otherwise assaulted women in the camp. They declared that soldiers force civilians to carry supplies into combat and gave the example of a young man wounded by gunfire in the course of such service.
Soldiers have transformed the Nyabitsinda hospital into a military barracks, forcing the patients out and making it unlikely that sick persons will seek help there. They reportedly used chairs and benches from the local school as firewood to cook goats stolen from local people.
Since 1993 the Burundian army has been fighting the FDD and the National Liberation Front (FNL). In an effort to squash local support for the rebels, military have in the past forcibly regrouped the civilian population. This has caused considerable international protest and has bought the military apparently little strategic gain.
A new government of transition, installed in November 2001, created power sharing among the political parties but did not bring an end to the civil war.
"By forcibly displacing civilians, Burundian soldiers and officials have violated international humanitarian law," said Des Forges. "If the transitional government wants to gain credibility with the people of Burundi, it must break with such abusive practices and leave the people in their homes.
