Amnesty accuses army and rebels of massacres

At least 43 people were killed by members of the armed forces on 31 December 1999 in Kabezi commune, Bujumbura Rural, which has been the scene of sustained conflict for the past few months, the human rights watchdog Amnesty International claimed on Thursday. Forty-three bodies had so far been found in three locations, and the killings appeared to have been a reprisal for an ambush at Gakungwe-Ramba on 28 December in which two soldiers were killed, Amnesty said. The human rights body said it had reports that the soldiers responsible were from military posts in Kabezi, Mubone and Ruziba communes, and said the government must “publicly acknowledge the killings” and ensure that those responsible were brought to justice.

Fighting between the armed forces and rebels was reported to have continued following the alleged massacre, and there had been a series of attacks attributed to the rebel Forces nationales pour la liberation (FNL), Amnesty added. It cited an ambush on a minibus near Nyamugari on Tuesday, in which all the passengers were reported to have been killed, and said “the incident appears consistent with numerous attacks on vehicles in the vicinity attributed to armed opposition groups.”