ZAIRE/BURUNDI: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES SADAKO OGATA LEAVES BURUNDI WITHOUT A FORMULA FOR THE RETURN OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES

Record ID: 275111

  • Title: ZAIRE/BURUNDI: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES SADAKO OGATA LEAVES BURUNDI WITHOUT A FORMULA FOR THE RETURN OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES
  • Date: 2nd September 1995
  • Summary: GATUMBA, ZAIRE/BURUNDI BORDER AND UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, BURUNDI (SEPTEMBER 2, 1995) GATUMBA 1. MV UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) SADAKO OGATA ESCORTED BY UNHCR OFFICIALS GREETED BY BURUNDIAN MINISTER IN CHARGE OF REFUGEES AND REPATRIATION MRS CHAUDINE MATUTURU (IN RED COAT AND BLACK SKIRT) AND ZAIREAN SOLDIERS 0.21 2
  • Embargoed: 17th September 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GATUMBA, ZAIRE/BURUNDI BORDER AND UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, BURUNDI
  • City:
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Reuters ID: LVA43VMFK8DR0FXWNB2C5DRDRN4
  • Story Text: The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata left Burundi on Saturday (September 2) without a formula for the return of tens of thousands of refugees who fled ethnic killings in their homeland.

    "I think I do have some commitments from the government that the government would actively try to play a leadership role in creating conditions for the return of refugees," Ogata told Reuters after meetings with Hutu President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya and Tutsi Prime Minister Antoine Nduwayo.

    But she admitted the commitments fell far short of a concrete resolution to Burundi's refugee crisis fuelled by deep and bloody ethnic hatred in the Central African nation between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis.

    "I cannot say I am closer to finding a resolution but I am certainly on the way to finding one," said Ogata, who later flew to Tanzania. She will also visit Rwanda and Zaire.

    Ogata said the time had come for the United Nations and the international community to "actively promote the conditions which will allow the return of Burundian and Rwandan refugees".

    Regional experts said any formula for bringing Burundian refugees home would need the total backing of Burundi's Tutsi army, whose actions continue to send more Hutus into exile.

    Diplomats said no formula for ending the plight of the refugees was yet in sight.

    In Burundi, Ntibantunganya presides over a fragile political coalition, with little or no power at all over the country's Tutsi army which has for years refused to share power with members of the Hutu majority.

    In Rwanda, a Tutsi-dominated army overthrew a Hutu administration last year, forcing well over a million fearful members of the Hutu majority and 40,000 Hutu troops to flee into Burundi, Tanzania and Zaire.

    Many fear if they return they will be killed in reprisal for last year's genocide of up to a million Tutsis and Hutu moderates by Hutu troops and militiamen. Their fears were reinforced by last week's dismissal of moderate Hutu Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu.

    Some 100,000 Burundian Hutus have fled to Zaire to escape vicious fighting with Tutsis at home. Hundreds have been killed and thousands fled sporadic fighting throughout the year between the Tutsi-led army and Hutu militias.

    UNHCR officials hope to speed up voluntary repatriations of Rwandan and Burundian refugees from Zaire after Ogata's visit.

    Zaire, which expelled 15,000 refugees last month, has told the UNHCR to repatriate all the refugees in Zaire -- more than a million -- by the end of the year or it would resume expulsions.

    There are another 720,000 Rwandan refugees and 100,000 Burundians in Tanzania, which has closed its borders with Burundi and Rwanda saying it cannot bear the burden of any more.

    UNHCR estimates there are some 500,000 displaced people inside Burundi, which has been sliding into civil war since the killing of its first freely-elected Hutu president in 1993.

    Zaire's Prime Minister Kengo wa Dondo told Ogata in Geneva on Tuesday UNHCR had until the end of the year to repatriate about one million refugees in Zaire or see them expelled by force after the deadline.

    Ogata told Reuters on Friday her agency would make all efforts to meet the December 31 deadline set by Zaire for the refugees to leave.

    Ogata will fly to Tanzania later on Saturday and to Rwanda on Monday and may visit Rwandan refugee camps in eastern Zairean towns of Bukavu and Goma from where Zairean troops forcibly expelled some 15,000 Rwandan and Burundian refugees last week.


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