UNITED
NATIONS, August 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The UN
Security Council condemned Sunday, August 15, last week's massacre of
160 refugees in Burundi and called on that country and neighboring
Democratic Republic of Congo to help bring the perpetrators to
justice.
The
Council called for informal consultations on the situation in Burundi
after the massacre that took place Friday, August 13, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
Council “condemns with the utmost firmness the massacre of refugees
from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which occurred on the
territory of Burundi, in Gatumba”, said the statement.
The
rebel Burundian Hutu National Liberation Forces claimed responsibility
for the slaughter, but Burundi President Domitien Ndayizeye claimed
his country “has been attacked, our frontier has been violated by
elements coming from the DRC to massacre Congolese civilians who had
sought asylum”.
Some
20,000 Tutsis from the DRC have sought refugee in Burundi since May as
a result of clashes between Hutu fighters and Congo military forces.
On
Saturday, August 14, Burundian officials warned that the Hutus were
planning attacks on other refugee camps.
Justice
Needed
The
UNSC called on the authorities of Burundi and of the DRC to cooperate
actively so that the perpetrators and those responsible for these
crimes be brought to justice without delay.
“The
Security Council requests the special representative of the Secretary
General for Burundi, in close contact with the Special Representative
of the Secretary General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to
establish the facts and report on them to the Council as quickly as
possible,” the UN statement said.
“The
Council calls upon all states in the region to ensure that the
territorial integrity of their neighbors is respected. It encourages
them to redouble their efforts in order to provide security for the
civilian population on their territories including for the foreigners
to whom they grant refuge.”
Annan
Shocked, Outraged
In
a separate statement UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan was “shocked and outraged” by the massacre.
“The
Secretary General strongly condemns this massacre and stresses that it
must be promptly investigated, so that those responsible are
identified, apprehended and brought to justice,” Eckhard said.
Annan
urges the governments of the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda to exercise
restraint and to take the steps necessary to prevent a further
deterioration of the situation in the region, the spokesman added.
He
calls on Congo and Rwanda to urgently establish a joint verification
mechanism which will assist in curbing the actions of armed groups
operating in the border areas, according to Eckhard.
“The
Secretary General offers all support to these governments to help them
to restore peace and stability and to put an end to the tensions that
have caused so much suffering to innocent people in the region,” the
spokesman pointed out.
A
diplomatic source said that members of the Council had said it was too
early to determine who was responsible for the massacre and would
await detailed information on what happened in Gatumba.
That
is why, the source said, none of the various armed groups active in
the region were singled out, and that is why the statement tasks the
UN representatives to Burundi and the DRC, Carolyn McAskie and William
Lacy Swing, respectively, with investigating and preparing a report
for the Council as soon as possible.
It
was the missile attack on the then Rwandan president Juvenal
Habyarimana’s aircraft on April 6, 1994, over Kigali that
