Effort to arrest rebel "terrorists" in Europe

Burundian officials on a mission in Belgium are seeking the arrest of members of a hard-line faction of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), a Burundian rebel group, who are based in Europe. "We have asked Belgium to help us to identify the FNL members who are residing in Belgium," Terence Sinunguruza, Burundi's minister of foreign affairs, told reporters on Thursday in Brussels, after a meeting with his Belgian counterpart, Karel De Gucht. The FNL faction, led by Agathon Rwasa, is the only rebel group that is still fighting in Burundi. East and central African leaders agreed at a summit on Burundi on 18 August in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that it should be branded a terrorist group. Sinunguruza said his government had already issued arrest warrants for Rwasa and FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana. The warrants followed an attack on the refugee camp at Gatumba on the Burundian border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo in which 160 people were massacred. The FNL claimed responsibility. However, Burundi officials said that the attack on Gatumba originated from the DRC, and that although FNL rebels led it, members of a Congolese militia, the Mayi-Mayi, and Rwandan Hutu militiamen based in the DRC, accompanied them. Belgium is waiting for the results of an investigation into the massacre, led by the UN and coordinated with the EU, before taking a decision on what measures it will take against FNL members residing in Belgium. Following the massacre, Burundi’s army chief had threatened to invade eastern DRC, but De Gucht said the Burundians had assured him they would not do so. Sinunguruza said he was pleased that DRC government had agreed to collaborate with investigations. Most FNL members living in Europe reside in The Netherlands. According to news reports, Dutch Development Minister Agnes van Ardenne, who represented the EU on a visit to Burundi this week, said the Dutch government was ready to take legal action against senior FNL members in The Netherlands.