MOPATORIUM FOR BURUNDIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS IN CANADA

PETITION TO STOP THE REMOVAL FROM CANADA OF BURUNDIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS
Addressed to CANADA MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & MINISTRY OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
November 7, 2004

We, members of the Burundian Community in Canada;

Considering the overall situation in Burundi, which is still so tense that the Canadian Government has asked Canadians to refrain from travelling to Burundi;

Concerned by the ongoing war between the Burundi government army and the PALIBEHUTU-FNL terror group, who is still recalcitrant to join the negotiation table;

Deeply concerned that albeit most belligerents had agreed to a cease-fire,
- there have been repeated cease-fire violations, which may re-ignite a generalized war;
- civilians are still experiencing violence from armed groups and on a regular basis;

Basing on the threats that people returning voluntarily to the country face, due to conflicts over land property;

Alarmed by the relentless rise of violence in the form of selective murders and ambushes of civilians travelling within the country;

Realizing the near political deadlock in the implementation of the Global Peace Accord

Well aware that Canada immigration law provides for The Minister to impose a stay on removal orders for asylum seekers whose demands have been rejected;

Reiterating our gratitude to the Canadian Government for having responded positively to a similar request that we had addressed them in the fall of 2003;

For these reasons,

We request The Minister to impose a stay on removal orders of Burundian asylum seekers with respect to the prevailing situation in Burundi as described above.

The undersigned








APPENDICES: INFORMATION ON THE SITUATION IN BURUNDI OVER THE
LAST 6 MONTHS

Appendix I: Ongoing war and persistent insecurity

1. Dйcouverte d'une grande tranchйe en commune Rumonge de la province Bururi.

Ligue Burundaise des Droits de l'Homme

I T E K A
*JavaScript Source*, un bon site de JavaScript!


1иre tranche 2иme tranche
Du 1-11-2001 au 1-5-2003 Du 2-5-2003 au 1-11-2004

BURUNDI SECURITE.
Dйcouverte d'une grande tranchйe en commune Rumonge de la province Bururi.
Itek@ 12 octobre 2004. Dйcouverte d'une tranchйe nouvellement creusйe dans la rйserve naturelle de Ngongo en commune Rumonge а 3 km du village de Mwagu, zone Buruhukiro.
Selon des sources administratives, cette tranchйe servirait aux entraоnements militaires et au cache darmes.
La dйcouverte a eu lieu le 30 Septembre 2004, mais on ne sait pas encore ceux qui ont creusй ladite trachйe.
http://www.ligue-iteka.bi/

Former fighters loot civilians in Burundi: UN

Source: Agence France-Presse
Date: 04 Nov 2004

BUJUMBURA, Nov 4 (AFP) - Armed gangs, reportedly including members of a former rebel group, have been looting food and property from impoverished villagers, the UN mission in the small central African country said Thursday.
The UN force monitoring a post-war ceasefire and a political settlement stated that it "deplores the looting by armed elements, believed to include members of the CNDD-FDD, of food and possessions from the least favoured people, who have scarcely enough to survive on."
The Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) and their political National Council (CNDD) signed an overall peace pact with the government a year ago, as part of a process to end a civil war which erupted in October 1993 and claimed some 300,000 lives.
About 15,000 former FDD fighters are grouped into camps awaiting disarmament while some now fight alongside the regular army in dealing with the country's last small remaining rebel group.


BURUNDI: Security Council calls for probe of massacre

http:///
BUJUMBURA, 16 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - 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.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44021&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes&SelectCountry=BURUNDI










Appendix II: The political situation


1. IRIN interview with Carolyn McAskie, head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Burundi

There are negative forces There is definitely a chance that there could be serious disruptions and there would be people who will try to disrupt the process. And I think we have to be vigilant for that.
There are still people out there who are determined to find a way to kill their fellow citizens.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44021&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes&SelectCountry=BURUNDI


2. BBC: A chronology of key events [in Burundi]

2004 August - 20 parties sign deal on sharing power between Hutu rebels and Tutsi-led government and army; 11 parties fail to sign agreement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1068991.stm


Appendix III: Accounts by experts


As reported by the Toronto francophone newspaper LExpress (Semaine du 26 octobre au 1er novembre 2004), a conference was held recently by two Burundian specialized in the field of human rights in Burundi. The panelists -- an academic and a human rights militant, both with significant knowledge of Burundi politics and human rights issues, -- drew from their vast experience to shown how the country is still insecure.