UN to review viability of inquiry into massacres

UN Assistant Secretary-General Tuliameni Kalamoh arrived in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, on Sunday, heading a delegation that is in the country to establish whether or not a judicial commission of inquiry should be set up to investigate massacres that may have been committed since Burundi's independence in 1962. During the seven-day visit, Kalamoh's delegation will hold talks with the signatories of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Accord. Burundi is currently in the second phase of a three-year transitional period that was set under the accord that was signed in August 2000 in Arusha, Tanzania, by 19 Burundian groups, including political parties, the government and the military. "We will look at a number of technical and political issues about whether it would be feasible or indeed advisable to establish a judicial commission of inquiry," Kalomoh told reporters when he arrived at the Bujumbura airport on Sunday. However, he added, it would not be up to his delegation to make "a determination whether a genocide or a massacre was committed, it would be up to the commission of enquiry". The Arusha accord recommends the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry into massacres allegedly committed in Burundi since its independence from Belgium until August 2000. If formed, the commission would be expected to qualify the type of crimes committed, determine who was responsible, and submit a report to the UN Security Council. The delegation is also due to hold consultations with the UN country team, officials of the African Union's mission in Burundi, senior government and military officials, representatives of civil society, religious institutions, diplomats and refugees returning home. Another UN commission of inquiry had, in 1996, investigated events that occurred in the country in 1993. One of its recommendation was the establishment of another inquiry team that would not limit itself to that period but would investigate other crimes committed in the course of the country's decade-long civil strife that has claimed the lives of at least 300,000 people. At least four other reports already exist on alleged massacres in Burundi.