Security Council calls for probe of massacre

The UN Security Council has called for a probe into the massacre on Friday of hundreds of Congolese refugees at a camp in Burundi. An estimated 160 refugees were killed and 100 injured at Gatumba, nine kilometres northwest of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, on the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mutilated corpses could be seen scattered around the camp on Saturday. Many bodies were burnt; some still smouldering. The attackers targeted a camp of Congolese Tutsis, known as the Banyamulenge, who were living next to camps of other Congolese refugees from other ethnic groups as well as Burundian returnees. Survivors said that the attackers came at 10 pm from the direction of the DRC. They started setting fire to the camp and shot anyone who attempted to run away. The injured are at various hospitals in Bujumbura. The burial of the dead, scheduled for Monday, has been postponed. The Security Council met in an emergency session on Sunday and issued a statement calling on UN envoys to the region "to establish the facts and report on them to the Council as quickly as possible." The UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan issued a separate statement expressing outrage at the massacre and stressing that it must be promptly investigated "so that those responsible are identified, apprehended and brought to justice." Numerous other international and regional leaders condemned the massacre. Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye, who visited the camp on Saturday, said Burundi was attacked by forces from the DRC and was demanding justice. "We will collaborate with Congo government and make all efforts to ensure that such crimes never happen again," he said. The border with the DRC has been closed since Sunday to prevent further attacks. Gatumba was a transit site for 3,600 Congolese refugees who fled fighting in eastern Congo in June. The only rebel movement still fighting in Burundi, the Front national de liberation (FNL) led by Agathon Rwasa has claimed responsibility for the Friday attack. Although Congolese vice president Azarias Ruberwa said that "[those] who did the killing are Burundian, Rwandan and Congolese." Ruberwa referred to Rwandan militias, known as the Interahamwe, based in the DRC and former Congolese rebels known as Mayi-Mayi though he expressed surprise that the Mayi-Mayi were responsible. The Mayi-Mayi militias are now supposedly under the command of Congolese government forces. Ruberwa had ended a one-day visit to Burundi on Friday, but after hearing of the massacre he returned to Bujumbura on Saturday. "This is not a massacre or killing; this is another genocide," he said.