UN says the international community must continue support for strife-torn Burundi

The international community must stay engaged in Burundi where the “overall situation remains fragile,” helping to reduce crime and ensure reintegration of a swelling numbers of refugees returning to the country emerging from 12 years of civil war, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report released today.

Security has started improving since the government signed a comprehensive ceasefire agreement September 7 with the last armed group, Forces Nationales de Libération (Palipehutu-FNL), but there are continued reports of serious human rights abuses by former rebels and government security forces, said the report.

“Most of these involved summary executions, forced disappearances, torture, ill-treatment in detention and arbitrary arrests and detention,” with the FNL reported to have committed murder, rape and armed robbery against civilians, noted the report, the eighth issued by Security-General Kofi Annan on the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB).

There was a recent alleged coup plot, followed by arrests and allegations of torture which the UN “strongly encouraged” Burundi authorities to treat with due process of law.

Overall though, human rights violations are decreasing in the wake of the ceasefire agreement but the report noted that implementation of the accord is still a work in progress, with “primary responsibility” resting with the Government and former combatants.

“However, the continued close engagement of the South African Facilitation, the Regional Peace Initiative and other partners; assistance from donors; and the early deployment of the African Union Special Task Force will be essential to ensure that its implementation proceeds smoothly and without further delay,” said the report issued to the Security Council.

UN peacekeepers are expected to provide security at designated assembly points for demobilizing FNL combatants but delays have led to calls for slowing the on-going drawdown of UN forces, which by late October stood at 2,434.

The report admitted there that so far there has been “limited progress” in security sector reform and noted that that both the police and armed forces ”face massive shortfalls in equipment, logistics, housing, transportation and training, particularly in the vital area of human rights.”

Noting that the wide circulation of weapons among civilians is a “major problem” the reported said that “effective progress in the Government’s weapons collection programme will be critical in reducing the currently high crime rates and improving security nationwide.”

The report also said “there is an urgent need for capacity-building to improve the national authorities’ ability of function effectively and meet the expectations of the population for peace dividends.”

The country recently experienced a surge of repatriations of Burundians from neighbouring countries where they took refuge, with half of the 25,901 returnees recorded this year to 1 October returning in August and September.

“Sustained and well-coordinated donor engagement will be vital in addressing the humanitarian needs and supporting the Government’s recovery, reconstruction and development efforts,” the report said.

On 25 October the Security Council voted to set up the UN Integrated Office in Burundi (Bureau Intégré des Nations Unies au Burundi, BINUB) in the country to follow on from the current ONUB mission which ends on 31 December.

More than 319,000 refugees have repatriated to Burundi since UN refugee agency (UNHCR) started assisting the repatriation in 2002. Most have returned from camps in Tanzania. Nearly 400,000 Burundians who fled inter-ethnic massacres, in 1972, and again from 1993 to 1996, are still in exile.