Over 400 civilians killed in 1999

Armed conflict between the army and rebels was responsible for Burundi's worst human rights violations, the Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme ITEKA said in its annual report covering 1999. The report, received by IRIN on Monday, said over 400 civilians were killed by the warring parties during the year, and violence resulted in the country's largest population
displacement since 1996. By the end of 1999, 12 percent of Burundians were living in displaced camps or regrouped sites. Although the regroupment by the authorities of some 350,000 people in Bujumbura Rural in September curbed frequent rebel attacks on the capital Bujumbura, ITEKA said the regroupment measure was accompanied by a series of rights' violations and
abuses. It cited the looting of regrouped persons' goods by military personnel, the deterioration in health and sanitation conditions in regroupment sites, and the practise by some soldiers of charging regrouped people for the right to engage in agricultural activities. The regroupment procedures did not respect UN guidelines on IDPs, the report added.