Rights body says risk of civilian deaths rising

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday there was a growing risk of more civilian deaths in Burundi, judging from recent army actions and rebel bombardments of the capital, Bujumbura. The New York-based rights body called on international donors and regional leaders, to "apply maximum pressure" on the Burundi government to protect civilians and to reach a ceasefire with rebels in the nine-year war. A weekend regional summit on Burundi's peace process is due to convene in Tanzania, hard on the heels of a donors' conference on Burundi that ended on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland. HRW's warning was contained in a new report entitled "Escalating Violence Demands Action", released on Friday. Produced in the form of a briefing paper, the rights body documents army killings of civilians since July, the worst of which, it said, accounted for 174 deaths in Itaba Commune, Gitega Province. "Although the largest slaughter since July, it was only one of a number of deliberate killings of civilians carried out by government troops in the last four months," it reported. It also recalled the rebel bombardment - most likely by the Forces nationales de liberation - of heavily populated suburbs of Bujumbura on 22-23 November, in which five people died and others were wounded or put to flight. "Both government army officers and rebel commanders must hold their troops accountable for these deliberate attacks on ordinary people who have no place to run," HRW said. A full account