Secretary-General condemns killing of innocent civilians

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday strongly condemned various incidents of violence committed recently in Burundi, particularly those that "resulted in the killing of innocent civilians by both rebel forces and government troops." He said he was particularly shocked by the attacks that occurred in Kanyosha and Ruziba in the province of Bujumbura Rurale on 10 and 12 August respectively, and called on both sides "to put an end to all attacks on the civilian population" and abide by international humanitarian law and principles. The Secretary General also reiterated his support for the peace process, "in its internal and external dimensions", and called on all parties to cooperate with the facilitator, former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere, to ensure progress. US wants investigations into killings The US government has asked the Burundian government to allow independent investigations into the killings, citing reports that the army killed some 147 Hutu civilians in revenge for a Hutu rebel attack in the southern outskirts of Bujumbura. Reuters news agency quoted US State Department spokesman James Rubin as saying the department had "credible reports" that the army was responsible. The US deplored all attacks against civilians and asked the Burundi government "to ensure that human rights organisations and others are allowed to carry out independent investigations," Rubin said. Government and army reject accusations Burundian government spokesman Luc Rukingama said the government was carrying out an investigation into "those (rebel) killers who attack the population" and that it had the means and skills to carry out investigations into its own security problems, the BBC reported on Thursday. "On our side, we would like to see the army doing everything possible to protect citizens and their properties", Rukingama added. Army spokesman Lt-Col Mamert Sinarinzi said on Thursday that 31 people and no more had died, some of them "assailants", and that talk of any more was just manipulation. He told Burundi radio that Kanyosha market had been attacked by armed gangs who killed people, including a gendarme, and that 11 assailants were killed in a pursuit operation. Attacks and counter-attacks continued, and when there was an attempt by people to flee into the capital, their movement was contained "and assailants died during the operations", Sinarinzi said. The situation was complicated by the rebels' use of "human shields" and the civilian total had also been distorted by the fact that some of the "assailants" wore uniforms while some did not, he added. Food-for-work resumed as pipeline is filled The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed food despatches to food-for-work projects that had been suspended due to food pipeline shortages, an emergency report by the agency, received by IRIN, stated. A total of 587mt of food has been despatched for 69 projects in Bujumbura town and seven provinces, with each participant getting a food ration for a family of five so that the total number of beneficiaries was over 87,000, the reported added. WFP also reported that although some of the major roads in Burundi were blocked at times in early August due to fighting, it had been able to continue all its planned operations.