UN mission report cites army, rebels in rights abuses

The UN Mission in Burundi (ONUB) has blamed the country's only remaining rebel movement, the Front National de Libération (FNL), and the regular army for human rights violations in the country.

In its quarterly report for April-June, ONUB described the frequency of human rights violations as increasing; especially in the provinces of Bujumbura Rural and Makamba. It said in May alone the army and the FNL killed 53 people.

"When perpetrators are not clearly identified, people tend to hold the FNL responsible. When perpetrators are identified, in many cases they are soldiers," Ismael Diallo, who heads ONUB Human Rights Division, said on Thursday, at a news conference in the nation's capital, Bujumbura.

He said, so far, no soldier accused of rights abuses had been prosecuted because of a lack of cooperation by the military.

However, army spokesman Maj. Adolphe Manirakiza denied the allegations against the military. He said on Friday that soldiers had been deployed to protect civilians from FNL attacks and not to kill them. He termed the ONUB report biased.

"How can it blame us for killing FNL [combatants] in a country in war?" he added.

He said if the army had been involved in the inquiries into rights abuses ONUB would have been able to produce a more objective report.

Burundi's transitional government has signed cease-fire agreements with all former rebel movements except the FNL, which is most active in Bujumbura Rural and Bubanza provinces.