To All Living Things
Last Week's Column

Amnesty Action:
Extrajudicial Executions and Fear for Safety in Burundi, Redux
Kathy Gay

’ve been doing human rights work for ten years now, and sometimes I think I’ve more or less heard it all -- all the hideous and vile things that human beings do to other human beings. Sometimes it seems like all the stories have run together into one horrid mess, and it’s hard to tell them apart. But then, every once in a while, a story comes along that distinguishes itself even more than most in the level of disgust it elicits from me. The most recent case coming out of Burundi is one of those stories.

If it sounds a bit familiar, that’s because it is. Two weeks ago I presented an Urgent Action from Amnesty International concerning the extrajudicial execution of 12 people earlier this month in Bujumbura Rural province. The victims, seven of whom were children ranging in ages from 1 month to 15 years, had been shot or bayoneted to death. These brutal killings were committed by members of the Burundi armed forces in retaliation against the civilian population after two soldiers were injured when their military truck was hit by a mine explosion.

The most up-to-date status I had on what had transpired in Bujumbura Rural province as I was writing the article about it two weeks ago stated simply that the number of reported fatalities might increase as Amnesty continued its investigation of the attacks. Late last week I received an update that Amnesty had learned the names of 9 more people -- 1 man, 5 women, and 3 little girls, one of them a baby -- who had been executed by the Burundi military during one of their reprisal attacks. And all of the victims were unarmed civilians.

I know there is a grim and long-standing history of hostility and ill-will between the Tutsis and the Hutus, the two tribal groups in Burundi, but I do not know the particulars of that history. I have no idea when these tribes began hating one other. I only know that the hatred is there and it has become deeply ingrained in their culture. I know that both sides perpetrate appalling acts of violence against the other, and both seek revenge when they feel their group has been wronged. Both sides are guilty, both sides are to blame.

But I also know that many are innocent. They want no part of the malice and do not participate in the bloodshed -- all they want is to live their lives in peace. And some of them, the most innocent ones of all, the children, have absolutely no connection to the cruelty that surrounds them. Somehow, though, the innocent ones get caught in the crossfire anyway. All too often they are injured and killed along with all the rest. And that is what saddens and angers me the most about stories like this: Adults consumed by their own personal or communal hate strike out and, apparently without so much as blinking an eye, cut a path of destruction that takes everything in its path, even the innocent ones. Even the young children and the babies.

So now the latest death toll from Bujumbura Rural province indicates that 21 people were killed, 10 of them children. I am saddened and disgusted and angry about what happened there, and also about the climate of impunity that prevails in Burundi and allows such atrocities to continue. I am once again asking for your help. Please let the government of Burundi know you know what the military did to 21 innocent people in Bujumbura Rural province. Let them know the killing has got to stop, and it’s up to them to stop it.

How you can help

Mail is still not getting into Burundi. Please send a fax or a telegram to the President of Burundi and/or the Minister of Defense, and a letter to Burundi’s Ambassador to your country, if they have one. You may use the sample letters linked below or use them as a model to write your own letters. If you choose to use the sample letters, please cut off or delete all website information at the very top of the letter. If you choose to write your own letters, make sure that they are politely worded, non-partisan (i.e., not used as a vehicle for political expression) and written with respect for the recipient. Be sure to include both your name and address, as well as the date, on your letters.

Please send your faxes, telegrams or letters as soon as possible but no later than August 29, 1997. Fax numbers are working intermittently but with increasing success. If you’re unable to obtain a fax tone, please keep trying.

Questions?

If you have any questions, just post a message to me (Kathy Gay) on the Pub, and I will respond as soon as I can. I greatly appreciate your interest and support.

To see the sample letter for this action, click here.

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Kathy Gay is a vegan, and has been a member of Amnesty International for nearly 10 years, where she has worked on numerous campaigns. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a business analyst for a leading California bank.

Kathy's column, To All Living Things, is a regular feature of VegSource On-Line Magazine.