The threatening situation in Burundi has been a major preoccupation throughout the period under review. I visited the country on 16 and 17 July 1995. Since his appointment in November 1993, my Special Representative for Burundi, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has actively promoted national reconciliation in the country through his contacts with all parties concerned.
On 10 September 1994, all the parties reached agreement on a system of power-sharing and later signed a Convention of Government, with the sole exception of the Parti pour le redressement national (PARENA), headed by former President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza. On 30 September 1994, the National Assembly elected Mr. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, a Hutu, as the new President of the Republic of Burundi. Mr. Anatole Kanyenkiko, a Tutsi, was reconfirmed as Prime Minister on 3 October 1994, and five days later a new coalition Government, representing 7 of the 13 political parties, was sworn in.
In my report to the Security Council of 11 October 1994 (S/1994/1152), I noted that although the situation had stabilized somewhat with the election of a new President, it still remained precarious. The international community should therefore continue to encourage the moderate forces in Burundi.
Throughout the period under review, the Security Council repeatedly deplored the attempts of extremist elements to destabilize the situation further and called upon all parties to respect and implement fully the provisions of the Convention of Government. The Council dispatched a fact-finding mission, the second in six months, to Bujumbura on 10 and 11 February 1995. The mission recommended, inter alia, the establishment of an international commission of inquiry into the October 1993 coup attempt and the massacres that followed, a substantial increase in the number of Organization of African Unity military observers, the strengthening of the office of my Special Representative and the deployment of United Nations human rights monitors throughout the country (S/1995/163).
In a presidential statement of 29 March 1995 (S/PRST/ 1995/13), the Security Council requested me to report on the steps to be taken to establish the commission of inquiry recommended by its mission which had visited Burundi the previous month. After considering various options, I concluded that it was necessary to explore the possibility of establishing a commission on the truth for Burundi similar to the one that had worked in El Salvador. I appointed a Special Envoy, Mr. Pedro Nikken, to visit Burundi for two weeks starting 26 June 1995. His mission was to determine whether the appropriate national entities in Burundi were prepared to set up a commission on the truth. The Council also reaffirmed its support for a regional conference on peace, stability and security and called with great urgency upon the countries of the region to convene such a conference. My Special Envoy visited Bujumbura from 28 June to 9 July 1995. In his report, he concluded that neither a commission on the truth nor an international commission of judicial inquiry would be an adequate response to the need to put an end to impunity in Burundi. However, an international commission of inquiry could be viable and useful. I reported to the Council on 28 July (S/1995/631) with recommendations for the establishment of such a commission.
The Conference on Assistance to Refugees, Returnees and Displaced Persons in the Great Lakes Region, organized by the Organization of African Unity and UNHCR, took place as scheduled at Bujumbura from 12 to 17 February 1995, in pursuance of General Assembly resolution 49/7 of 25 October 1994. The Conference adopted a plan of action and decided to ask UNDP to organize a round table to assist the countries affected by the Rwandan and Burundian refugees. Preparatory meetings for holding the round table are scheduled to take place from September to December 1995.
On 15 February, the Union pour le progrès national (UPRONA), the main opposition party, forced the resignation of Prime Minister Kanyenkiko. Five days later, Mr. Antoine Nduwayo was appointed Prime Minister. On 10 March, a new 25-member coalition Government was appointed. The security situation nevertheless remained fragile. Violence did not subside, despite a reconciliation and pacification campaign launched by the Government in April 1995, and it continued to affect parts of the country. Two problems, in particular, were potentially explosive: the sudden influx of Hutu refugees who left the Kibeho camp for displaced persons in Rwanda and crossed the northern border of Burundi (27,000 as of 12 May 1995) and the question of a shipment of small arms and ammunition ordered by Burundi from China in 1992, but blocked in Dar es Salaam by the authorities of the United Republic of Tanzania.
A fresh outbreak of violence in Bujumbura in June 1995 led to the announcement by President Ntibantunganya of new security measures, but they were rejected by the Parliament with the Front pour la démocratie au Burundi (FRODEBU) majority voting against them. The same month, arrest warrants were issued against two Hutu extremist leaders -- former Minister of the Interior Leonard Nyagoma and his top adviser, Mr. Christian Sendegeya, who had sought refuge in Zaire. The situation was further aggravated by the unexpected resignation of the Tutsi Minister for Foreign Affairs. On 6 July 1995, Mr. Paul Munyambari, a Hutu (FRODEBU), was appointed Foreign Minister in his place. Preparations for the national debate, which is tentatively scheduled for November or December 1995, are under way.
During his visit to Burundi from 29 to 31 March 1995, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights received support from the President of Burundi for the expansion of the office of the High Commissioner in Bujumbura, opened since 15 June 1994. On 4 May, the Economic and Social Council appointed Mr. Paulo Pinheiro (Brazil) Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi. Mr. Pinheiro paid his first visit to the country from 21 June to 2 July.
On the humanitarian front, the violence in Burundi severely affected the northern provinces. Populations have continued to flee to the United Republic of Tanzania and Zaire. The reduction in the availability of food resources to meet regional needs has forced the World Food Programme to cease distributions among the displaced populations while continuing to serve refugees. This has led to the exacerbation of ethnic tensions within the northern regions.
The fact that the humanitarian needs which surfaced after the events in October 1993 in Burundi were largely met by September/October 1994 seems to account for the general consensus within the relief community in Burundi that the humanitarian crisis is past. However, although an emergency does not exist at present, there remain reasons for concern about the future. Health and educational services are continuously perturbed by ethnic turmoil, forcing the international community to set up parallel administrative structures. Dwindling international emergency resources and the absence of follow-up development assistance pose questions about the Government's capacity to take over the provision of basic services.
The United Nations Development Programme is actively involved in assisting the Government in its transition from a relief-assisted State to one which may lead a recovery effort. A 15-month continuum programme of close to $3.4 million was initiated to help elaborate sectoral strategies. In addition, a number of conferences attract donor support.
The World Health Organization is implementing a four-pronged assistance effort, totalling nearly $3.9 million. The efforts are focused on strengthening the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network, assisting in the prevention and control of communicable diseases and epidemics, supporting the provision of health services to the most affected provinces, and aiding in the prevention and control of sexually transmitted diseases.
The efforts of UNICEF are geared towards reinforcing the existing health network as well as the integration of preventive and curative services of health and nutrition, the provision of water supply and environmental sanitation, supporting basic education and peace education, and giving assistance to 8,000 unaccompanied children. Over $10 million has been contributed for these efforts.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has concentrated its efforts on providing displaced persons, returnees and refugees with agricultural tool kits and seeds. In addition, the organization is involved in reforestation and stockbreeding. A total of $12 million has been allocated for these tasks.
In addition to providing assistance to approximately 200,000 refugees, UNHCR has been assisting 220,000 returnees and displaced persons and 5,000 urban poor. UNHCR also provides secondary-school and higher education, and implements repatriation operations of former refugees from and to Rwanda. Approximately $30 million has been raised for the accomplishment of these tasks.
WFP continues to assist the internally displaced persons and returnees as well as 200,000 Rwandan refugees in Burundi, and 150,000 Rwandan and Burundian refugees in Zaire. The reduction in regional food availability has led WFP to implement an accelerated reintegration programme for the internally displaced.
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