BURUNDI

CASE N° BDI/01 - SYLVESTRE MFAYOKURERA
CASE N° BDI/05 - INNOCENT NDIKUMANA
CASE N° BDI/06 - GERARD GAHUNGU
CASE N° BDI/07 - BIBIANE NTAMUTUMBA
CASE N° BDI/29 - PAUL SIRAHENDA

CASE N° BDI/02 - N. NDIHOKUBWAYO	CASE N° BDI/18 - D. BIGIRIMANA
CASE N° BDI/03 - L. NTIBAYAZI	CASE N° BDI/19 - T. SIBOMANA
CASE N° BDI/04 - F. BANVUGINYUNVIRA	CASE N° BDI/20 - T. BUKURU
CASE N° BDI/08 - A. NAHINDAVYI NDANGA	CASE N° BDI/21 - S. MUREKAMBANZE
CASE N° BDI/09 - I. KUBWAYO	CASE N° BDI/22 - G. NDUWIMANA
CASE N° BDI/10 - S. NSABUWANKA	CASE N° BDI/23 - C. MANIRAMBONA
CASE N° BDI/11 - I. BAPFEGUHITA	CASE N° BDI/24 - S. NTAKHOMENYEREYE
CASE N° BDI/12 - P. NIZIGIRE	CASE N° BDI/25 - D. NGARUKIRINKA
CASE N° BDI/13 - P. BURARAME	CASE N° BDI/27 - N. NTAHOMUKIYE
CASE N° BDI/14 - S. BIYOMBERA	CASE N° BDI/28 - C. BUCUMI
CASE N° BDI/15 - J. NDENZAKO	CASE N° BDI/30 - A. KIRARA
CASE N° BDI/16 - D. SERWENDA	CASE N° BDI/31 - J.-P. NTIMPIRONGREA
CASE N° BDI/17 - A. NTIRANDEKURA

CASE N° BDI/26 - NEPHTALI NDIKUMANA
CASE N° BDI/32 - LEONCE NGENDAKUMANA
CASE N° BDI/33 - AUGUSTIN NZOJIBWAMI

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council
at its 162nd session (Windhoek, 11 April 1998)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Referring to the outline of the case, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/162/11(a)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 161st session (September 1997) concerning the above parliamentarians,

Taking into consideration the information provided by the Minister of Human Rights, Institutional Reform and Relations with the National Assembly in his letter of 26 March 1998, and of the information provided by the Permanent Mission of Burundi to the United Nations Office at Geneva dated 24 March 1998,

Taking into consideration the information provided by one of the sources on 5 and 12 January and 20 February 1998,

Recalling that the military coup d'Etat of 25 July 1996 placed Major Pierre Buyoya at the head of the State; that he deposed President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya and suspended the Constitution, political parties and the National Assembly; that the latter was re-established by virtue of Decree-Law N° 1/001/96 of 13 September 1996, albeit with considerably curtailed powers,

Considering that, although technically functioning since then, the National Assembly was unable to conduct its business, if only for want of the necessary quorum; that, however, according to the President of the National Assembly, it was able to hold its ordinary session from 6 October to 4 December 1997, which produced two major results, namely the reconciliation of the FRODEBU and UPRONA parliamentary groups and discussions with the Government on the peace process; that the spring session was due to open on 6 April 1998,

Considering that, in his letter of 26 March 1998, the Minister for Human Rights also stated that the situation had improved markedly; that both the Government and the National Assembly had agreed to give priority to the peace process and that specific measures could be adopted at the Assembly's spring session regarding its future,

Considering in this connection that the Ministry of the Interior and Public Safety, reportedly having later signed and retracted in the space of 24 hours a decree suspending FRODEBU's activities, filed a lawsuit against the decisions of the FRODEBU Congress for having maintained in their leadership persons living outside the country, which contravenes the law on political parties; that the Administrative Chamber put the case in camera and is shortly to rule on the admissibility or otherwise of the application,

Recalling that, according to information supplied by the President of the National Assembly in September 1997, the political situation prevailing in Burundi has claimed the lives of 33 parliamentarians, 24 of whom belonged to FRODEBU and 9 to UPRONA; that others have been forced into exile and are not returning out of concern for their safety,

Recalling the " disappearance " on 1 August 1997 of Mr. Paul Sirahenda, who had returned to Burundi from exile in mid-1997,

Considering in this connection that, according to the Minister of Human Rights, " although Burundi is still at war, the Government is sufficiently in control of the security situation to be able to assert that there is nothing to oppose the return of the self-exiled parliamentarians. Apart from the unfortunate case of Mr. Sirahenda, parliamentarians are today living in satisfactory conditions of security ",

Considering further that, according to the Minister, combating impunity is a priority of the Government of Transition; that it " involves extensive action requiring considerable resources and the co-operation of all, including parliamentarians. These two conditions not being met, there remain gaps. The Government reaffirms its determination to close them ",

Recalling that Mr. Mfayokurera, Mr. Ndikumana, Mr. Gahungu and Ms. Ntamutumba, all of whom were elected in 1993 on a FRODEBU ticket, were assassinated on 20 August 1994, 16 December 1995 and in April and May 1996, respectively, and that no serious investigations into these crimes have reportedly been undertaken, thus guaranteeing the attackers total impunity,

Considering that as regards the assassination of the above MPs and the " disappearance " of Mr. Sirahenda, the Minister of Human Rights stated that the cases of Ms. Ntamutumba, Mr. Gahungu and Mr. Mfayokurera had been shelved for want of evidence or the impossibility of identifying the culprits; that the Prosecutor General's Office was continuing to search for the killers of Mr. Ndikumana; that Mr. Sirahenda and his driver, who had lost their lives at Makamba, a locality much troubled by armed bands from Tanzania, ought to have taken more measures of prudence and security; that a committee had been set up to identify and punish the criminals; that, however, it was lacking co-operation from parliamentarians claiming that he and his driver had been killed by the military; that, as a result, little progress had been made in the investigations and that " it would be fitting for the National Assembly to work more closely with the judicial services to make them more effective ",

Recalling in this connection that, according to the sources, Mr. Sirahenda had taken security measures and, for example, changed his itinerary; that there are reportedly many eyewitnesses in the market town of Mutobo from where he was reportedly taken away in a military jeep sent from Mabanda camp,

Recalling that, according to the sources, no serious investigation has been conducted into the attempts on the lives of Mr. Ndihokubwayo, Mr. Banvuginyunvira and Mr. Ntibayazi of September 1994, February 1995 and September 1995, respectively,

Considering that, according to the Minister of Human Rights, no complaint has ever been registered by the Judiciary regarding the assassination attempts against Mr. Ntibayazi and Mr. Banvuginyunvira; that, while it was true that the Public Prosecutor could have dealt with these cases as a matter of course, " it is regrettable to note that parliamentarians Ntibayazi and Banvuginyunvira were unwilling to have recourse to its services in order to identify and punish these dangerous criminals "; that, as regards Mr. Ndihokubwayo, the investigation was continuing with one parliamentarian asserting that the culprit was abroad and the Judiciary asserting that some of the presumed culprits were in preventive detention, although for different crimes,

Recalling in this connection that, according to the sources, police officers some fifty yards away saw everything but failed to react; that, moreover, the attackers were reportedly arrested but later released by the investigating magistrate,

Recalling that, according to the sources, politically motivated judicial proceedings are under way against Mr. Ngendakumana, President of the National Assembly, Mr. Nzojibwami, Vice-President of the SAHWANYA-FRODEBU party, and Mr. Nephtali Ndikumana, who is currently in exile,

Considering that, according to information supplied by the authorities in March 1998, the investigation on the President of the National Assembly has just been shelved, the Public Prosecutor having concluded that the testimonies against him were dubious, contradictory and even false,

Considering that, according to the Minister, Mr. Nzojibwami, Secretary General of FRODEBU, has committed three offences, the first relating to false news he wittingly put out on the BBC in order to disturb the peace, an act punishable under Article 428 of the Burundi Penal Code; that the other two were offences punishable under Article 413 of the Penal Code; that a ruling on the first offence was expected to be handed down shortly,

Recalling that, according to the sources, in January 1997 Mr. Nzojibwami denounced on the BBC the policy of forced regrouping of the population in what he called concentration camps,

Recalling in this connection resolution 1997/77 of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (April 1997, E/CN.4/1997/150) in which it states its deep concern at the non-voluntary resettlement of rural populations in regroupment camps and at the human rights violations to which these operations give rise, and urges the Burundi Government to dismantle them; recalling also the interim report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burundi submitted to the United Nations General Assembly in October 1997 (A/52/505), in which he requests the authorities to make an immediate start on dismantling the regroupment camps,

Considering that Mr. Ndikumana, Vice-President of the FRODEBU Parliamentary Group and in exile since 12 August 1996, was found guilty in absentia on 7 March 1997 of incitement to ethnic hatred for having, in May 1994, made statements (in the Kirundi language), according to the source, to the effect: (a) that all those who had supported and were supporting FRODEBU power were being killed, and all Hutus in general were being massacred, and ethnic cleansing was under way throughout the country, accompanied by looting of the victims' property; (b) that a Balkanisation operation was being carried out in the town; that even the previously intact districts of Kamenge and Kinama had been burned down and that there were no Hutus left; (c) that the intention was to extend the Kamenge, Kinama and Cibitoke plan to the rest of the country to exterminate the Hutus; (d) that countless numbers of people had been killed by the Rwandese in collaboration with their Burundi brothers, under the indulgent gaze of those meant to be protecting the population; that the wrongdoers mentioned by the Prime Minister were those being massacred at Kamenge, Kinama, Citiboke and elsewhere; that those assertions were to be found in a statement by the FRODEBU Parliamentary Group signed by its Vice-President, Mr. Ndikumana,

Considering that the statement in question was reportedly debated in Parliament, Mr. Ndikumana thus having acted in the exercise of his parliamentary duties and consequently his prosecution having been in breach of Article 107 of the Constitution whereby parliamentarians cannot be tried for opinions expressed or votes cast in the course of their duties,

Considering that, in his letter of 26 March 1998, the Minister of Human Rights stated that Mr. Ndikumana had been prosecuted for (a) having, in 1994, disseminated material inciting ethnic hatred, (b) having wittingly spread false rumours likely to alarm populations and encourage them to engage in civil war, and (c) having wittingly helped to issue and spread false news with a view to disturbing the peace; that, moreover, Mr. Ndikumana had rejoined the CNDD (National Council for the Defence of Democracy) camp and, according to his statements on foreign radio stations, supported its murderous activities,

Bearing in mind that, in his report to the 52nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions stated that " while it cannot be denied that the army has been targeted by Hutu armed groups, it is also true that it is responsible for grave violations of the right to life ... " and that he referred in this context to killings reportedly perpetrated by the army in the period mentioned by Mr. Ndikumana,

1. Thanks the Minister of Human Rights, Institutional Reform and Relations with the National Assembly for the information and observations he provided and for his co-operation;
2. Also thanks the Permanent Representative of Burundi to the United Nations Office at Geneva for his co-operation;
3. Notes with interest that the National Assembly was able to hold its regular autumn session in 1997 and will resume its work in April 1998, and hopes that its involvement in the peace process will indeed contribute to national reconciliation and the advent of a truly democratic system;
4. Notes with satisfaction that the charges laid against the President of the National Assembly have been dropped, and consequently decides to close his case;
5. Expresses its deep regret that the investigations into the murders of Mr. Mfayokurera, Mr. Ndikumana, Mr. Gahungu and Ms. Ntamutumba and into the death of Mr. Sirahenda and his driver have yielded no result and, in the case of Mr. Mfayokurera, Mr. Gahungu and Ms. Ntamutumba, have even been shelved;
6. Is surprised that the prosecution authorities lack information about the death of Mr. Sirahenda since, according to the sources, there are eyewitnesses of Mr. Sirahenda's abduction by military personnel from Mabanda camp;
7. Urges the National Assembly and its members to provide any information they may have to the competent investigating authorities;
8. Deeply regrets that the Prosecutor General did not see fit to institute investigations into the attempts on the lives of Mr. Banvuginyunvira and Mr. Ntibayazi, which he should have done as a matter of course;
9. Is deeply concerned at the fact that the investigation into the attack on Mr. Ndihokubwayo has been unavailing, which it finds all the more worrying as, according to the sources, the attackers had been arrested but were later released by the competent judge;
10. Notes with concern that no investigations into the above crimes have been successful, and fears that this may denote a lack of will on the part of the competent authorities to establish the truth;
11. Recalls in the strongest terms that it is the duty of every State to guarantee the right to justice and to prosecute and try the perpetrators of criminal acts; acknowledges that the transitional authorities themselves have declared the combat against impunity to be a priority, and once again calls on them to comply with their obligations under international and national law and ensure that these crimes do not remain unpunished;
12. Notes that the Government affirms that, since it is sufficiently in control of the security situation, there is nothing to oppose the return of the exiled parliamentarians; nevertheless expresses its conviction that the best demonstration of this would be tangible results of the investigations into the murder, disappearance and attempts on the lives of their fellow parliamentarians;
13. Remains concerned at the prosecution of Mr. Nzojibwami and the conviction of Mr. Ndikumana, whose statements - particularly in view of the subject-matter of United Nations documents regarding the human rights situation in Burundi - are undoubtedly covered by his right to freedom of speech;
14. Would appreciate information about the facts adduced to substantiate the charges laid against Mr. Nzojibwami under Article 413 of the Burundi Penal Code;
15. Reiterates its wish to receive a copy of the relevant indictments and the judgment handed down on Mr. Ndikumana;
16. Requests the Secretary General to convey these considerations to the authorities, inviting them to keep it informed of progress, in particular as regards the investigation into the disappearance of Mr. Sirahenda and his driver, and to supply the requested documents;
17. Also requests the Secretary General to maintain contact with the United Nations bodies and commissions dealing with the human rights situation in Burundi;
18. Requests the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to continue examining the case and report to it at its next session (September 1998).

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