IMC slams detention of political prisoners, poor prison conditions

The Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi has slammed the country's transitional government for what it called "a lack of political will" in releasing political prisoners and improving prison conditions. The criticism came during the committee’s 15th regular session, held from 29 September to 3 October in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. In its final communique, the committee said that continued failure to resolve the question of political prisoners and irregularly detained prisoners was the result of "a lack of political will". It called for the immediate liberation of all political prisoners; the provisional release of anyone who had been detained for more than six years without having been tried, and the paroling of prisoners who had served more than one-quarter of their sentences; the release of all persons imprisoned under irregular conditions; and the release of all prisoners over the age of 70 and those who were bedridden with AIDS. The committee urged the government to take immediate steps to improve health, dietary and sanitary conditions in prisons, and to seek donor support in accomplishing this. The committee called on the international community "to respond positively and generously to this initiative". With regard to continued hostilities, the committee urged all belligerent parties to fulfil their obligations to protect civilians and non-combatants in accordance with humanitarian law. It encouraged the government and the Conseil National pour la Defense de la Democratie/Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza to reach a power-sharing accord "as soon as possible", and again appealed to the Parti pour la liberation du peuple hutu-Forces nationales de liberation (Palipehutu-FNL) faction led by Agathon Rwasa "to join the ongoing negotiations without delay and thereby clearly demonstrate its commitment to peace". The committee also called on the government and "armed political movements" to "immediately provide" the Joint Ceasefire Commission with information they had so far failed to produce concerning troop strength, weapons and location so that JCC could take "practical steps" toward the disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration and rehabilitation process. As for the repatriation of refugees and the National Commission for the Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons (Commission Nationale pour la Rehabilitation des Sinistres - CNRS), the IMC said that despite "its many requests that the Act establishing CNRS be amended to bring it into line with the Arusha Agreement", the government had not yet taken action. "The IMC expresses its concern at the prejudice faced by refugees and displaced persons on account of the conflicting jurisdictions created by the promulgation of a law that is inconsistent with the relevant provisions of the Arusha Agreement," it stated. It said it would send a delegation headed by its chairman, Berhanu Dinka, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Burundi, to discuss the matter with President Domitien Ndayizeye. It said that it would invite the CNRS president and the minister for the reintegration, rehabilitation and resettlement of refugees to the IMC's 16th session, due to be held from 24 to 28 November. The IMC said it encouraged the opening of new border entry points with a view to facilitating the rapid return of refugees to their places of origin. With regard to budgetary contributions, the IMC thanked the governments of Burundi, Belgium, France and the US, as well as the UN and the EU for their support of the IMC's work.