BURUNDI: THE RWANDAN REFUGEE CRISIS AND THE RESIGNATION OF BURUNDI'S PRIME MINISTER RAISES FEARS OF ETHNIC VIOLENCE

Record ID: 275043

  • Title: BURUNDI: THE RWANDAN REFUGEE CRISIS AND THE RESIGNATION OF BURUNDI'S PRIME MINISTER RAISES FEARS OF ETHNIC VIOLENCE
  • Date: 17th February 1995
  • Summary: BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (FEBRUARY 17-18, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (FEBRUARY 17) 1. LV/ZOOM OUT CITY (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. TRACKING VIEW OF SHOPS CLOSED DUE TO STRIKE 0.35 3. LV EXT. HOTEL WHERE CONFERENCE ON REFUGEES HELD 0.39 4. LV /SV TRADITIONAL BURUNDI DRUMMERS OUT FRONT OF HOTEL (2 SHOTS) 0.47 5. SV UNITED NATIONS (U.N
  • Embargoed: 4th March 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI
  • City:
  • Country: Burundi
  • Reuters ID: LVAAEJ4RMJLM8F7M1UGVK82B8XRQ
  • Story Text: Lack of African co-operation on the Rwandan refugee crisis, a general strike, and the resignation of Burundi's prime minister raised fears after an international summit on Friday (February 17) that Burundi was facing an "explosion" of ethnic violence.

    The capital Bujumbura has been paralysed for nearly a week by a general strike called by the opposition Uprona party to press for prime minister Anatole Kanyenkiko's removal. Kanyenkiko resigned on Wednesday but has not been replaced.

    Speaking after an international summit attended by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata aimed at persuading thousands of Rwandans to leave Burundi and return home, Kanyenkiko said political instability could lead to a genocide worse than that of Rwanda.

    Burundi President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, a moderate from the Hutu majority, which for centuries was dominated by the Tutsi minority, came to office last year after his predecessor Cyprien Ntaryamira died in a plane crash along with Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana.

    Ntaryamira had been in office only a few months after the assassination of Burundi's first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, in 1993.

    On Saturday the UNHCR announced that a planned African summit meeting on the refugee crisis in Rwanda and Burundi had been cancelled because of lack of support from the leaders of nearby countries.

    Ogata said it was a complex task to convince refugees fleeing a conflict to return to their country and that the situation in Burundi was worsening.

    Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim, told Reuters: "There is a real danger of a repetition of the Rwandan tragedy in Burundi." Burundi and Rwanda have the same mix of Hutu majorities and Tutsi minorities and the same tragic history of ethnic massacres on a huge scale.

    Up to one million Rwandans died in the ethnic violence which followed the Habyarimana's death, most were Tutsis and moderate Hutus.


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