Chris McGreal in Bujumbura
BURUNDI’S overwhelmingly Tutsi army has killed several thousand civilians since the military coup three weeks ago. Its offensive against Hutus has concentrated on a swath of territory across the centre of the country, as well as land bordering rebel camps in Zaire.
Survivors accuse the army of using mortars and heavy weapons in attacks on groups of unarmed women, children and men, with no insurgents in sight.
A foreign official who works closely with Burundi’s army said he had no doubt that when Major Pierre Buyoya seized power late last month the military took it as a signal for a new assault on Hutu rebels and civilians alike.
“It’s clear this is more than the retaliation against civilians we had before. The army has taken on thousands of recruits and there’s an operation in blocks of the country to clear people out,” he said.
“They are just going from hill to hill killing people. The army says it is killing rebels, but the problem is soldiers see Hutu civilians and rebels as one and the same, and that’s how they treat them.”
The continuing bloodshed will do little to help Buyoya win over neighbouring governments, despite his announcement that he will soon appoint a new civilian Parliament and that within three years he will bring in some kind of democratic rule.
Burundi has won just one concession from countries imposing the regional blockade which has shut off international flights and closed land borders: United Nations aid convoys arrived from Tanzania yesterday, the first since sanctions were imposed.
In a sign of increasing militarisation, Buyoya has replaced four civilian regional governors with army officers.
Among those removed from office is the governor of Gitega province, where much of the killing is taking place. Tharcisse Ntibarirarana, a Hutu, had publicly condemned a massacre of Hutu students by their Tutsi classmates while the army stood by.
The military has been tied to other massacres in the province. Survivors of assaults in Giheta commune, in eastern Gitega, say an army attack launched two days after the coup is continuing. Victims accuse the military of shelling people who have fled their villages and sought shelter on hillsides.
Although independent verification of death tolls is almost impossible, foreign human rights workers say they believe the violence in Gitega province alone has claimed more than a thousand lives. Last night hillsides in Giheta, set alight by the army, were still burning amid reports of more killings.
Some survivors say they believe the army is attempting to carve out safe areas for Tutsi peasants by clearing Hutus from their land.
The head of military intelligence, Colonel Jean- Bosco Daradangwe, denied that a co-ordinated offensive had been launched but did admit civilians were dying.
“The army is sometimes undisciplined,” he said. “The acts of indiscipline are just isolated incidents, so people don’t have to be afraid of the army as a whole. The tension between the army and the people is dissipating quickly.”