Clinton urged to use influence in Arusha

The rights organisation, Human Rights Watch, on Tuesday said US President Bill Clinton should use his brief presence at the Arusha signing ceremony on 28 August to turn it into an event of “historic significance”. In a press release, HRW said Clinton should pledge US support for prompt, effective justice in Burundi to punish serious war crimes committed during the war. “Clinton can turn his few hours in Arusha into an event of historic significance for the six million Burundians devastated by this brutal war,” the organisation’s Africa director Peter Takirambudde said.

“To do so, he has to back a treaty that will really work - one that ensures accountability for the guilty, whether Hutu or Tutsi.” He warned that investigation without prosecution “amounts to amnesty”, and pointed out that this was a practice discredited in Sierra Leone after rebel leader Foday Sankoh was granted an amnesty. An international investigation into war crimes and genocide in Burundi should have an open-ended mandate enabling the prosecution of anyone committing crimes after the accord has been signed, Takirambudde added.