Burundi villagers blame army for killing 53 people

RUYIGI, Burundi (Reuters) -- Villagers in a remote area of eastern Burundi have blamed the army for a recent massacre of 53 civilians, many of them women and children.

Villagers said the army had killed a large group of people on Nyamiyaga hill, near the town of Ruyigi, because they had refused to move into a temporary "regroupment" camp as the Tutsi-dominated army conducted a sweep for ethnic Hutu rebels.

"The administration and the military came to our village two weeks ago and said everybody must leave their houses and go to the regroupment camp," one villager told Reuters.

"Those who were killed had refused to go with us. When we returned, we found them dead. Witnesses said the army came and started shooting at them."

The villagers said they had buried 53 bodies, among them 18 women and 16 children, all with bullet wounds.

More than 200,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in seven years of civil war between the army and Hutu rebels. Human rights groups blame both sides for indiscriminate massacres.

The army has forced hundreds of thousands of mainly Hutu farmers into regroupment camps around the country in a bid to flush out the rebels, and frequently tells villagers that anyone found outside the camps will be treated as a rebel.

Burundi's state-run news agency had last week blamed rebels for the July 22 massacre, quoting local officials.

The governor of Ruyigi province told Reuters he did not know who was to blame.

"They were either taken hostage by the rebels or they were collaborating with the rebels," Governor Isaac Buyaka said. "Anyway, they should not have been there -- they were all told to leave a week before the military operation started."

A person who said he had seen the massacre was forcibly denied permission to talk to Reuters by local officials. Others said they were afraid to talk.

Buyaka put the number of dead at 34 but said the count was not complete.

Civilians caught by both sides

Clashes have intensified in Ruyigi province since a large group of rebels crossed the border from neighboring Tanzania two weeks ago, officials said.

As usual, it is civilians who suffer most.

A scorched patch of earth and broken glass at the side of the Ruyigi-Gitega road mark the scene of a recent rebel ambush in which more than 10 people were killed. Rebels were also blamed for burning houses and stealing cattle.

Governor Buyaka said hundreds of civilians had voluntarily fled to the newly formed camps, while others had been sent to camps for two weeks as troops scoured the area.

The government is dismantling similar camps in the ring of hills surrounding the capital Bujumbura after widespread international criticism.

But its actions elsewhere in the country have attracted much less attention. Locals said they had received no food or shelter in the two weeks they spent in the camp, but said at least they felt safe.

"Those who obeyed the order to regroup are all alive, not even wounded," one local said. "Nobody harms us here. If there was enough food, everything would be okay."

Neither the Burundian government nor rebels have accepted a peace plan put forward earlier this month by mediator Nelson Mandela to end the war.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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