U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1997 - Burundi

Approximately 285,000 Burundians were refugees at the end of 1996: about 240,000 in Tanzania, an estimated 40,000 in Zaire, and 5,000 in Rwanda. It is believed that about 400,000 persons in Burundi were internally displaced. A more precise estimate of internal displacement was difficult because ongoing civil war made large parts of the country inaccessible to outsiders. About 12,000 refugees from neighboring countries were in Burundi at year's end: an estimated 10,000 from Zaire, and about 2,000 from Rwanda. About 100,000 Rwandan refugees who were in Burundi at the beginning of the year repatriated before year's end. Burundi's violence worsened during 1996. Between 15,000 and 40,000 Burundians were killed, according to various estimates. A coup brought new leaders to power, the civil war spread to previously calm areas of the country, and neighboring nations imposed an economic embargo in an effort to restore peace. Burundi's military forcibly relocated up to 100,000 persons into special camps, and refugees fled the country in growing numbers in the final months of the year. During the course of the year, the number of Burundian refugees increased by approximately 80,000. Tens of thousands of additional refugees fled the country during the year but returned home before year's end. The number of internally displaced persons fluctuated dramatically and repeatedly during 1996, as large numbers suddenly fled and rapidly returned home when local conditions permitted. The 400,000 displaced persons at year's end were 100,000 more than the number of displaced when the year began. Pre-1996 Events Burundi's majority ethnic Hutu and minority ethnic Tutsi have lived side by side for centuries, sometimes peacefully, at other times amid large-scale communal and political violence. Prior to 1993, Tutsi controlled all branches of the Burundian government and military. In 1993, the country's first democratic election installed a Hutu, Melchior Ndadaye, as president. The Front for Democracy in Burundi (known by its acronym, "Frodebu"), dominated by Hutu, won most seats in the National Assembly. In October 1993, elements within the Tutsidominated military assassinated Ndadaye and other highranking Hutu government officials during an abortive coup attempt. A wave of violence followed. An estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people of both ethnic groups perished in massacres. Hundreds of thousands fled the country or became internally displaced. The violence abated and another Hutu, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was named president. Ntaryamira died in an April 1994 plane crash in Rwanda. Another Hutu Frodebu party member, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, became president after a tense and protracted political stalemate. The country became engulfed by constant, pervasive violence that left an estimated 5,000 persons dead during 1994. Some 10,000 Burundians were killed during 1995 as the country's low-intensity civil war gained new momentum. The country's deteriorating political situation persuaded larger numbers of Hutu to join armed rebel groups. Camps for internally displaced persons became special targets for attack by both sides. The government military, supported by Tutsi youth militia, violently expelled the Hutu population from many areas in and near the capital, Bujumbura. Tens of thousands of Burundian Hutu fled to Zaire and Tanzania. International relief workers encountered growing risks to their own security. 1996 Violence and Politics Burundi's violence intensified in 1996. The country's predominantly Hutu rebel movement demonstrated its growing strength by mounting military offensives in areas of the country previously exempt from civil war. Armed extremists on both sides were guilty of murder and other abuses against the civilian population. The government army committed the largest number of atrocities, according to independent human rights investigators. Violence claimed at least 15,000 lives during the year, according to the most conservative estimates. The U.S. ambassador to Burundi in early 1996 estimated that 100 persons were dying each day – a total of more than 30,000 deaths over the course of an entire year. Rebel leaders charged that the Tutsi-dominated military killed 40,000 persons in the last half of the year alone. The pervasive violence made large areas of the country inaccessible to outsiders, hampering accurate investigation of the death toll. The U.S. government declared in May that "much...of the violence in Burundi has constituted genocide." A series of high-ranking U.S. officials traveled to Burundi in early 1996 to urge political reforms and peace negotiations. International diplomats discussed the feasibility of deploying UN peacekeeping troops in Burundi, as requested by Burundi's president. No international troops were deployed, however. In July, a coup eliminated the last vestiges of Burundi's democratically elected government. Coup leaders removed the president, suspended the constitution, banned political parties, and installed former president Pierre Buyoya as the country's new leader. Buyoya, a Tutsi aligned with the Uprona political party, had lost to Ndadaye in the 1993 election. Many Hutu officials in the ousted government fled the country or went into hiding. All neighboring countries imposed economic sanctions against Burundi's new government and urged peace talks, without success. The UN Security Council condemned the coup and expressed support for the economic sanctions. Massacres of civilians intensified after the coup, especially by the government military and extremist Tutsi militia. Nearly half of the dead and wounded were reportedly women and children. In one of the largest massacres, soldiers killed some 700 persons in northern Burundi during a two-day period in early December. A UN report late in the year characterized the country's human rights situation as "catastrophic." Landmines along major highways aggravated security risks. Internally Displaced: Security An estimated 400,000 Burundians were internally displaced at the end of 1996, but that figure masks the true extent of population displacement during the year. Tens of thousands of families became newly displaced, while thousands of uprooted households managed to return to their homes when safety permitted. Although exact estimates are impossible, it is probable that far more than a half-million Burundians were internally displaced at different times during 1996. Members of both ethnic groups were among the displaced, though most displaced populations were ethnically segregated. Displaced Tutsi primarily lived in designated camps or in urban areas. The majority of displaced Hutu were dispersed in the countryside, though some resided in camps. Violence affected virtually every province of the country. Camps for displaced persons played a significant role in the bloodshed, both as a source of violence as well as a target for attack. Rebels regularly attacked camps populated by displaced Tutsi. Displaced Hutu suffered attacks both from the government army and from rebel troops. Combatants on both sides tended to view camps for displaced persons as military enclaves of their enemy, rather than as safe havens exempt from warfare. In January, extremist occupants of a camp for displaced persons in northern Burundi reportedly attacked and killed some 60 persons living nearby. About 20 displaced persons reportedly died when their camp in the northeast came under attack. Rebel troops were accused in May of slaughtering more than 40 residents of several camps. In July, more than 300 displaced persons perished when rebels attacked their camp. The latter incident played a role in precipitating the coup against the government a few days later. Burundi's mid-year coup intensified the violence and population displacement, particularly in the east. The military forcibly relocated approximately 100,000 persons – predominantly Hutu – into special "regroupment" camps, ostensibly for security purposes. Critics charged that the forced relocations were part of a government military strategy meant to deprive Hutu rebels of a support base among the Hutu population. Hutu civilians who refused to enter the camps were typically branded rebel sympathizers by the government army. Civilians who resided in the forced relocation camps were derided as government collaborators by the rebels. Internally Displaced: Assistance Security concerns made large segments of the displaced population inaccessible to relief agencies and international human rights workers. In early 1996, some 75,000 displaced persons in northwest Burundi lacked clean water, blankets, seeds, and plastic sheeting because of nearby fighting. Tens of thousands of other uprooted families in other regions received only sporadic assistance. About 70 tons of relief food were looted in January, according to WFP. Many relief agencies temporarily suspended their operations in January in response to threats to their security. In June, three European staff members of ICRC were killed in an ambush north of Bujumbura. Fourteen foreign relief workers have been slain in Burundi since 1994. The murder of ICRC staff forced that agency to suspend its assistance program and prompted other relief organizations to curtail operations. Offices of UNHCR and MSF suffered attacks that same month. Relief agencies suspended most land travel in August due to security concerns, increasing their reliance on expensive air deliveries of humanitarian aid to isolated parts of the country. International economic sanctions imposed on Burundi after the mid-1996 coup placed added burdens on displaced persons and relief programs. The sanctions created shortages of fuel, fertilizers, medicines, and other basic humanitarian supplies. Aid shipments to some displaced populations stopped completely. UNICEF curtailed its child vaccination and water delivery programs. In December, WFP reported "a massive increase in the numbers of displaced persons in need of food." About 120,000 Burundians were receiving food aid at year's end, compared to 320,000 or more who were believed to be in need of food assistance. As the year ended, relief agencies were debating the ethics and political repercussions of providing humanitarian assistance to the forced relocation camps. Health conditions in the relocation sites were often abysmal, yet some international aid officials argued that assistance to the camps would inadvertently support a government relocation program condemned by many relief organizations. Burundian Refugees More than 150,000 Burundians fled their country during 1996. Nearly half of them returned to Burundi later in the year, however. By year's end, the total number of Burundian refugees was approximately 285,000, including refugees who fled the country prior to 1996. Northwest Burundi remained a particularly violent area throughout 1996, forcing regular flows of refugees into neighboring Zaire. Up to 15,000 persons fled to Zaire during December 1995 and January 1996. Approximately 25,000 Burundians reportedly fled to Zaire in May. An additional 7,000 Burundians sought safety in Zaire and Rwanda weeks before Burundi's mid-year coup. Immediately after the coup, more than 500 refugees per day fled to Zaire. Burundian refugees' trek to Zaire was dangerous. Burundian soldiers closed roads leading to the border and reportedly fired at civilians trying to escape. Landmines posed an additional threat in border zones. Many Burundians who reached Zaire were subsequently pushed back to Burundi when a civil war erupted in Zaire in October (see section below). Several thousand other Burundian refugees who were forced to flee Zaire's war opted to travel by boat to Tanzania, across Lake Tanganyika. As Burundi's own civil war spread to eastern regions late in the year, growing numbers of persons attempted to escape to Tanzania. Approximately 100,000 Burundians reached Tanzania in the final months of 1996 despite Tanzania's official border closure in 1995. Thousands of others were blocked at the border by Tanzanian authorities. Some 100,000 Burundians who settled in Tanzania in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are not included in the refugee total. They appear to be socially and economically integrated into Tanzania and are largely self-sufficient. Although they are no longer considered to be refugees in need of protection or assistance, they live a "refugee-like" existence. Returnees to Burundi An outbreak of civil war in eastern Zaire in the final three months of the year pushed some 70,000 Burundian refugees back into Burundi by year's end. In many instances, the returnees ended up in the custody of the same Burundian military that had forced them to flee originally. Nearly 300 returnees were massacred by government soldiers or militia in a church in northwest Burundi in October. More than 80 returnees were killed in three separate incidents during October-November, according to international human rights investigators. International observers expressed concern that hundreds of other new returnees – especially males – were murdered in unreported incidents as the year ended. Efforts by UNHCR to transport returnees back to their home communes encountered criticism from some relief agencies because many home areas were dangerous. The majority of new returnees remained in the northwest border zone, living along the highway with inadequate shelter and water. Security problems prevented regular assistance to them. Several thousand returnees from Zaire chose not to remain in Burundi. An estimated 5,000 of them apparently fled across Burundi west-to-east to reach asylum in Tanzania. Thousands of other Burundian refugees who were blocked at the border by Tanzanian authorities were forced to return to Burundi, where they remained at risk. Rwandan Refugees Nearly 200,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees fled to Burundi in 1994 because of civil war and a change of government in their own country. More than 30,000 of them repatriated to Rwanda in 1995, while thousands of others fled from Burundi to Tanzania that year in search of greater safety. At the beginning of 1996, some 120,000 Rwandan refugees were living in five camps in northern Burundi. By year's end, about 98 percent of Rwandan refugees had left Burundi, due to fear for their safety and coercive policies by Burundian authorities. Burundi's Tutsi-dominated army and other government officials viewed the Rwandan refugee camps as a security threat. Humanitarian aid received by the Rwandan refugees created friction among Burundian Tutsi living nearby who received less assistance from the international community. A Burundian military official reportedly visited the refugee camps in January 1996 and informed the refugees that they were no longer welcome. Burundian soldiers and local Tutsi civilians attacked and burned two refugee camps, leaving 20 persons dead and pushing about 30,000 refugees to Tanzania and to other areas of Burundi. Tanzanian authorities initially denied entry to the refugees, resulting in several reported drowning deaths as refugees attempted to enter Tanzania surreptitiously. Tanzanian officials subsequently opened the border and allowed entry to about 25,000 Rwandans. Some 15,000 Rwandan refugees still in Burundi returned to Rwanda in the six weeks after the January violence. Several thousand others trickled back into Burundi's remaining refugee camps. Burundian officials announced plans to close several camps by July and directed refugees to repatriate or move to a single designated camp. UNHCR protested six incidents in which authorities forcibly expelled about 60 refugees in the first three months of the year. In July, Burundian officials temporarily blocked UNHCR's access to two refugee camps and expelled 15,000 Rwandans. Soldiers forced the refugees into overcrowded container trucks for transport back to Rwanda, resulting in the suffocation deaths of two refugees. Many refugees charged that Rwandan troops entered Burundi during the operation. The expulsion closed two camps, pushed some 9,000 refugees into the two remaining camps, and dispersed 6,000 refugees into nearby hills, cut off from assistance. Some 30 refugees were detained and tortured by Burundian authorities during the July expulsion, resulting in at least four deaths, according to Amnesty International. UNHCR formally expressed "indignation" over the forced return. "This refoulement...represents a serious violation of a cardinal principle of human rights," UNHCR stated in a protest to Burundian authorities. In the aftermath of the July expulsion, UNHCR redoubled efforts to encourage the remaining 60,000 to 80,000 Rwandan refugees to go home voluntarily. During the next five weeks, an average of more than 10,000 Rwandan refugees per week repatriated from Burundi with international assistance. UNHCR and IOM provided truck transportation. By the end of August, virtually all Rwandan refugees had left Burundi. The circumstances of the August repatriation were controversial, an unusual mixture of voluntary and involuntary repatriation. Thousands of Rwandan refugees indicated to UNHCR that they were ready to return home voluntarily. UNHCR officials suspected, however, that refugee leaders in the camps were preventing many refugees from repatriating. "It is assumed that this voluntary repatriation is due in part to the unstable situation in Burundi and to positive news received from Rwanda," the UN humanitarian coordinator in Burundi reported in mid-August. UNHCR took the unusual step of establishing repatriation registration sites outside the refugee camps in order to minimize intimidation by camp leaders. Evidence suggests that many refugees repatriated involuntarily, however. Burundian soldiers reportedly raided one camp in mid-August, burned refugee dwellings, and beat camp occupants in an apparent effort to push them out. At least three refugees were killed by Burundian troops. Burundian officials claimed that troops entered the camps to search for arms and that soldiers did not force the refugee population to leave. "They are welcome to stay as long as they want," a government spokesman said. The rate of repatriation accelerated immediately after the camp violence. UNHCR announced in late August that all refugee camps in Burundi were officially empty and closed. The agency reported that Rwandan refugees who refused to repatriate would remain in Burundi pending "an appropriate solution." Zairian Refugees Civil war in eastern Zaire pushed Zairian refugees into Burundi late in the year. UNHCR and the government designated a site north of Bujumbura for the temporary settlement of several thousand refugees. USCR Actions USCR joined 17 other humanitarian agencies in urging President Clinton to remain diplomatically engaged in issues affecting Burundi. USCR and the agencies described Burundi as "extremely volatile" and recommended "prompt and vigorous" measures by the United States should African nations decide to deploy peacekeeping troops to Burundi. In February, USCR urged the U.S. attorney general to grant Temporary Protected Status to Burundian nationals in the United States so that they would not be forced to return to Burundi. USCR said the U.S. government's earlier refusals to give Burundians an official safe haven were "a shameful failure." Immediately after Burundi's July coup, USCR published an analysis of the reasons behind the coup and noted that political upheavals in Burundi have historically generated massive numbers of refugees. USCR recommended that the U.S. government should pressure Burundi's new leaders to demonstrate political moderation by taking concrete steps to foster peace. USCR suggested that the United States should "take the lead in providing human rights observers to Burundi." In addition, USCR urged Burundi's post-coup leader "to end permanently the forcible expulsion of Rwandan Hutu refugees from Burundi." USCR stated that "UNHCR should receive unimpeded access to operate in the camps." In August, USCR joined 11 other humanitarian agencies to urge American media executives to intensify coverage of the crisis in Burundi. "We strongly urge that you make Burundi a top news priority," USCR and other agencies said. "The slaughter in Burundi is unconscionable." In September, USCR published a report, From Coup to Coup: Thirty Years of Death, Fear, and Displacement in Burundi. The report stated that "mistrust and suspicion between the country's ethnic Tutsi and ethnic Hutu populations is so deep-seated that families who try to escape violence by fleeing toward safety have instead become specially targeted for violence themselves." USCR also published a summary of the Burundi crisis and noted that thousands of displaced persons were "cut off from relief supplies and forced to fend for themselves even as violence continues around them." USCR briefed the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in September in a nationally televised address about the emergency in Burundi. "Of Burundi's six million people, nearly a million of them are dead or uprooted," USCR reported. USCR recommended that the international community should better coordinate its mediation policies on Burundi "to make sure that the world's governments are speaking...with one voice."