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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| 180 massacred at UN camp in western Burundi |
| 2004-08-15 |
| Attackers armed with machetes and automatic weapons raided a U.N. refugee camp in western Burundi, shooting and hacking to death at least 180 men, women and children, U.N. officials said. Burundian Hutu rebels claimed responsibility, insisting the camp for Congolese Tutsi refugees fleeing tribal fighting was a hide-out for Burundi army soldiers and Congolese tribal militiamen. But most of the victims appeared to be women and children. Their charred remains lay among the cooking utensils and the smoldering remnants of their former homes on Saturday. The attack late Friday echoed the killing during the 1994 genocide in Burundi's neighbor Rwanda and raised fears of retaliatory violence that could undo peace efforts in Congo. The camp, 12 miles from the border with Congo, sheltered ethnic Tutsi refugees, known as the Banyamulenge, who fled fighting in Congo's troubled border province of South Kivu, U.N. officials visiting the camp after the attack said. ``People were sleeping when the attack happened,'' Eliana Nabaa, spokeswoman of the U.N. mission in Congo said. ``People were killed as they tried to escape.'' Isabelle Abric, spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Burundi, said 159 people were killed on the spot and 101 others were wounded in the attack in Gatumba. At least 30 of the wounded died later in hospital, she said. Leaflets distributed before the raid warned refugees to leave the camp or face attacks by a coalition of Burundian, Rwandan and Congolese factions seeking ``to fight the Tutsi colonization in the region,'' survivors said. The attackers spoke languages and dialects from the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi and were believed to have crossed into Burundi from Congo, witnesses told The Associated Press. They asked not to be named for fear of retribution. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Leaflets distributed before the raid warned refugees to leave the camp So the UN knew it was coming - yet all they did was watch it happen. Why not just install video camera's or get sattelite images and save us some money on lavish expense accounts. |
| Posted by: B 2004-08-15 12:11:53 PM |
| #1 But most of the victims appeared to be women and children. Hey, Kofi - Is this a genocide yet? Just askin'... |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-08-15 12:04:08 PM |