UN to further probe Burundi massacre

UNITED NATIONS – A Hutu rebel group is implicated in the massacre of 160 Congolese in Burundi in August, a UN report said on Monday, but contaminated evidence makes it hard to conclude who else may have taken part.

The Forces for National Liberation, the lone Hutu rebel group refusing to join the Burundian peace process, claimed responsibility for the attacks, but many in Burundi doubt its ability to conduct the operation on its own, the report said. That leaves open the possibility “of significant involvement of other groups or individuals active in the region,” said the report to the 15-nation UN Security Council.It urged officials in Burundi, Congo and Rwanda to continue the probe and said the new Hague-based International Criminal Court, which deals with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, could also investigate.Banyamulenge Tutsi refugees, including children, were massacred in the desolate Gatumba transit camp, near the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kivu mountains, on August 13.They had come to Burundi to escape warfare in their own country, some arriving as recently as June.Some refugees had been shot, others were injured by grenades and many were cut with knives and machetes, witnesses said.”After nearly one month of work, the investigation team has been unable to establish who organised, carried out and paid for the atrocity,” said the report, which was compiled by UN missions in Burundi and the Congo and the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights.The investigators said most of the evidence had been “contaminated” when they arrived seven hours after the killings ended.Burundian authorities did not cordon off the area to protect evidence and survivors and relatives of the dead were walking through the remains of the camp.The massacre has raised tensions in Africa’s volatile Great Lakes region and triggered fears Burundi and Congo might slip back into civil war after years of peacekeeping efforts.Elections are scheduled in Burundi on October 31, which like Rwanda, has a clear Hutu majority.Burundi is struggling to emerge from a decade of ethnic war between its politically dominant Tutsi minority and rebels from the Hutu majority.- Nampa-ReutersThat leaves open the possibility “of significant involvement of other groups or individuals active in the region,” said the report to the 15-nation UN Security Council.It urged officials in Burundi, Congo and Rwanda to continue the probe and said the new Hague-based International Criminal Court, which deals with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, could also investigate.Banyamulenge Tutsi refugees, including children, were massacred in the desolate Gatumba transit camp, near the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kivu mountains, on August 13.They had come to Burundi to escape warfare in their own country, some arriving as recently as June.Some refugees had been shot, others were injured by grenades and many were cut with knives and machetes, witnesses said.”After nearly one month of work, the investigation team has been unable to establish who organised, carried out and paid for the atrocity,” said the report, which was compiled by UN missions in Burundi and the Congo and the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights.The investigators said most of the evidence had been “contaminated” when they arrived seven hours after the killings ended.Burundian authorities did not cordon off the area to protect evidence and survivors and relatives of the dead were walking through the remains of the camp.The massacre has raised tensions in Africa’s volatile Great Lakes region and triggered fears Burundi and Congo might slip back into civil war after years of peacekeeping efforts.Elections are scheduled in Burundi on October 31, which like Rwanda, has a clear Hutu majority.Burundi is struggling to emerge from a decade of ethnic war between its politically dominant Tutsi minority and rebels from the Hutu majority.- Nampa-Reuters