UN rights rapporteur says violence against civilians increasing

The UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Burundi has reported an increase in violence against civilians caught up in 10 years of civil war. Presenting her sixth report on Burundi to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on Monday, Marie-Therese Keita Bocoum said that state and non-state actors had violated the right to life in the continuing war. She said that between July and September 2002, state agents had allegedly killed a number of civilians (including women, children and the elderly). Bocoum said the Burundian government continued to run illegal detention centres within military camps and in insecure places. Also, torture and other forms of punishment continued to be inflicted in different police stations and underground detention centres. Law enforcement agents, she said, had been accused of torturing civilians. The UN's information service quoted Bocoum as saying that with the approach of the rotation of power between Tutsi and Hutu presidents due on 1 May, "the political situation was clouded with concern". A Burundian government representative questioned the reliability and objectivity of the special rapporteur's information, in particular the figures she advanced and the responsibilities attributed. The government representative said it must not be forgotten that the country had been suffering from a complex civil war since 1993. The government said that cases of misconduct by the armed forces were investigated and those responsible were punished. Reports that displaced people were afraid to visit health and relief centres were part of a campaign by "certain Burundian political circles and rebels who tended to demonise the army", the government representative said. During a question-and-answer session, Bocoum told the commission she intended to visit Burundi as soon as possible. While there had been some improvements with regard to the peace process, civilians still could not feel the full effects of peace, she said. Bocoum said attacks against women and children had been serious, and called for a special inquriy into the violence. Asked if the leaders of rebel groups were willing to respect human rights, Bocoum said she had been unable to meet the rebel groups. The only appeal she could make was through the recommendations in her report.