U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1998 - Burundi

  Nearly 250,000 Burundians were refugees at the end of 1997: some 230,000 in Tanzania, 15,000 in Congo/Zaire, and 3,000 in Rwanda. An estimated 500,000 Burundians were internally displaced. About 12,000 refugees from neighboring countries were in Burundi at year's end, including 10,000 from Congo/Zaire and 2,000 from Rwanda. Burundi's political and ethnic violence continued during 1997, forcing tens of thousands of new refugees from the country. As violence shifted from region to region, however, tens of thousands of refugees who fled in earlier years repatriated to their home areas. The government forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of rural Burundians during the year as part of a strategy to deprive rebels of local support. Pre-1997 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. Tutsi have dominated the country's politics and military since national independence in 1962. Burundi's first democratic elections in 1993 produced a Hutu president. Elements within the Tutsi-dominated military assassinated the president and other high-ranking Hutu government officials in October 1993. The wave of violence that followed left 30,000 to 50,000 persons dead, Hutu and Tutsi. A coup in 1996 eliminated the last vestiges of Burundi's democratically elected government and shifted power back to Tutsi elites. A growing insurgency by Hutu rebels and atrocities by the government military and Tutsi militia claimed an estimated 40,000 or more lives during 1994-96. Uprooted Hutu and Tutsi were regular targets of attack. Neighboring countries imposed an economic embargo in response to the 1996 coup. As the violence edged closer to full-scale civil war in 1996, at least 200,000 persons fled their homes, joining hundreds of thousands of other Burundians who had become refugees or internally displaced in previous years. At the start of 1997, approximately a quarter-million Burundians were refugees and an estimated 400,000 were internally displaced. 1997 Violence and Politics Clashes between insurgents and government troops continued in 1997, particularly in the country's far southern and northern areas, as well as near the capital, Bujumbura. All sides committed "murderous acts" against civilian populations, a UN human rights report charged in February. The government military was "first and foremost" responsible for the country's violence, the UN report concluded. The Burundian government "every day...moves further from the path of negotiation," with "no sign of the beginnings of a Burundi strategy for peace and reconciliation," the human rights report stated. Despite continued violence in some areas and a rash of landmine incidents, security improved in many regions of the country during the year. Burundi's prime minister declared in October that 12 of the country's 15 provinces were secure, and tens of thousands of refugees repatriated. Hutu rebels struggled to recover from the loss of military base camps in Congo/Zaire. Violent internal splits also weakened the rebels. The government reportedly doubled the size of its military to an estimated 40,000 troops. Secret negotiations between rebel leaders and the government became public in May, bringing the negotiations to a rapid halt. "Extremists on both sides continue to disrupt reconciliation efforts," the UN secretary general complained. Neighboring countries maintained economic sanctions against Burundi's government. As the year ended, a rebel attack near the capital reportedly killed 300 people and displaced 10,000. Uprooted Burundians Burundi's estimated half-million internally displaced persons at year's end included three types of displacement: some 200,000 or more people, primarily Tutsi, who lived in designated camps; about 200,000 Hutu whom the government required to move into "regroupment" camps; and an unknown number of Hutu‹perhaps 100,000‹who were dispersed throughout the countryside rather than living in designated camps. Many families have remained uprooted since 1993. Others have repeatedly fled, returned home, and fled again as security conditions changed in their home areas. More than one-third of the population in the northern province of Karuzi were displaced in 1997. Nearly one-third of the households in the southern province of Bubanza were uprooted. Families were living in more than 250 displacement and regroupment camps during the year, according to UN officials. Some long time displaced persons in Bujumbura began returning to their homes outside the city late in the year. The condition of displaced populations ranged from good to poor. Many newly displaced persons spent weeks or months in forests and swamp areas before emerging with malnutrition and skin infections. A UN survey of displacement camps found that 60 percent had extremely poor sanitation. One in every five sites lacked access to health care. Insecurity in the south blocked humanitarian assistance to camps there, causing malnutrition among camp occupants. Rains and poor roads also hampered relief efforts. Lack of fuel temporarily grounded UN and NGO relief planes to rural areas. WFP warned in August that the health of displaced families, particularly in the north, would deteriorate because many "are not getting access to enough basic food sources to stave off malnutrition and...diseases." WFP stated that "generations of people could end up permanently blind, stunted mentally, or, in extreme cases, dying of treatable diseases." Overall malnutrition rates among all Burundians doubled to 12 percent, according to a UN report in February. The war and large-scale population upheaval affected other aspects of life. Enrollment in primary schools dropped nearly by half, to 30 percent enrollment rates, compared to 1993, because 3,000 teachers were dead or displaced, according to UNICEF. On the outskirts of Bujumbura, rebels reportedly burned one-third of all area schools in a single weekend. In a major southern town, 80 percent of the schools were closed due to insecurity, UNHCR and UNICEF reported. Some 5,000 children nationwide were unaccompanied. Regroupment Camps Government policy to move rural Hutu residents into temporary "regroupment" camps began in 1996 and moved into high gear during 1997. By mid-year, an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 people resided in about 50 regroupment sites scattered throughout the country. Some observers estimated that up to a half-million were in the camps. The closure of some camps late in the year allowed thousands of occupants to return home. Government officials claimed that the regroupment strategy was intended to protect the rural population from rebel attacks. Observers viewed it as a largely successful effort to weaken rebels by draining rural areas of potential rebel supporters. Although some farmers reportedly moved to regroupment sites voluntarily, the majority were apparently forced into the camps. Government soldiers in some cases burned homes to ensure compliance with the regroupment strategy. A UN human rights reporter charged that families who resisted the regroupment policy were "treated as enemies" by Burundian soldiers. Amnesty International claimed that soldiers routinely killed peasants who refused to move into regroupment sites. The UN Commission on Human Rights expressed "deep concern at the involuntary resettlement of rural populations in regroupment camps" and urged authorities to dismantle them. East African leaders called on the government to "disband the regroupment camps and allow the people to resume their normal activities." The UN Security Council issued a similar plea. Regroupment sites at times became targets for attack. Some 130 occupants died in attacks on three regroupment camps in northern Burundi in March. The government blamed rebels for the attacks; others suspected the Burundian military. An attack in May left some 60 persons dead at a regroupment site. Conditions at regroupment camps were often abysmal. The camps typically were located at remote sites with poor sanitation, insufficient water, minimal or nonexistent health services, and limited land for farming. Many camps were overcrowded. WFP concluded that residents of regroupment camps suffered worse conditions than occupants of other displaced-person camps in Burundi. "Thousands in regroupment and displaced persons camps remain at risk of malnutrition and life threatening diseases," WFP warned in August. The poor conditions posed an ethical dilemma for relief agencies and international donors who feared that aid to the regroupment sites would indirectly facilitate the government's policy of forcible displacement. USAID prohibited aid to regroupment camps except in emergencies. UNHCR provided limited assistance, including plastic sheeting, blankets, and soap. Burundian officials began to dismantle some regroupment camps in the second half of the year after security improved. Some occupants went directly home, others shifted to transit sites. Returnees in some areas received plastic sheeting, blankets, water cans, seeds and tools, and a three-month food ration. Some families returned home to find their houses looted and damaged. Burundian Refugees and Returnees As Burundi's insurgency shifted from region to region, refugee flight and refugee repatriation occurred simultaneously during the year. As refugees fled from southern areas, others returned home to eastern and northern areas. Some 20,000 refugees fled to Tanzania during the first three months of the year, according to UNHCR. Some 15,000 more fled to Tanzania in May, and nearly 10,000 in June. Up to 200 refugees per day fled from southern Burundi in July. Thousands more fled late in the year. Sources charged that Burundian troops planted landmines at the Tanzanian border to discourage refugee flight. The repatriation of some 90,000 Burundian refugees from Tanzania, Congo-Zaire, and Rwanda was at times voluntary, at times involuntary, and often occurred under duress due to situations in those asylum countries. UNHCR refrained from promoting repatriation "because of unacceptable levels of violence in various parts of" Burundi. At least 50,000 Burundian refugees are believed to have repatriated from Tanzania. Although many of the refugees returned voluntarily, a significant number were directly or indirectly pushed from Tanzania in a crackdown by Tanzanian authorities against refugees and other foreigners living outside of camps in border areas. Tanzania expelled 48 Burundian asylum seekers in early January; they were subsequently taken into custody by the Burundian military and killed, according to Amnesty International. Days later, Tanzania expelled 126 asylum seekers to Burundi; 122 of the returnees were killed by Burundian soldiers hours later. USCR and other human rights agencies condemned the expulsions and killings. "Burundi remains one of the most dangerous countries on earth," USCR stated. Burundians "who have dared to return to their homes are regularly massacred." Ten Burundian soldiers were sentenced to prison in connection with the killings of returnees. An estimated 30,000 Burundians repatriated from Congo/Zaire during the year. Tens of thousands repatriated in the first weeks of 1997 due to civil war and atrocities in Congo/Zaire. Many of the returnees found themselves in a conflict area of northern Burundi, beyond the reach of regular assistance and protection from UNHCR and NGOs. Congolese/Zairian authorities engaged in several expulsions late in the year, resulting in nearly 3,000 forced returns. Several thousand Burundian refugees returned from Rwanda in a repatriation UNHCR described as largely voluntary. UNHCR noted that some returnees to Burundi were moved directly into government regroupment camps and were not allowed to go home. UNHCR complained that "rather than protecting refugees, regroupment centers leave them open to armed attack." The U.S. government granted temporary protected status to Burundians in the United States in November‹a policy long advocated by USCR. The U.S. offer of temporary safe haven to Burundians "is long overdue but welcomed nonetheless," USCR stated.