(New York) - Dozens of students abducted from Burundian schools last week must be released and the Burundian rebel movement that captured them must stop such kidnappings, Human Rights Watch said today.
The rebel group, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), abducted the students to serve as soldiers in their war against the Burundian government. “All parties – whether rebel or government – have used children to fight this horrible war. But dragging large numbers of students from school to make them into soldiers represents a new and alarming practice,” said Alison Des Forges, Senior Adviser to the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch called on Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and a mediator in the Burundian civil war, to make a plea for the release of the students. Mandela will address the United Nations Security Council this week.
“A strong denunciation by Mandela and by the Security Council might convince the rebels to free the students,” said Des Forges. “It might even persuade the FDD to leave children at their books instead of pushing guns into their hands.”
In an agreement mediated by Mandela, the Burundian government and opposing political parties share power in a transitional government installed on November 1. The most important Hutu-led political party in Burundi, FRODEBU, participates in the government, headed by Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi. But the two Hutu-dominated rebel groups, the FDD and the Forces of National Liberation (FNL), are not part of the government and they have intensified the war since it took power.
Representatives of FRODEBU and the FDD are to meet this week in Tanzania to discuss a cease-fire. The FDD rebels frequently take sanctuary in Tanzania and they have been supported by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Human Rights Watch urged FRODEBU, as well as Tanzanian and Congolese leaders, to denounce the kidnappings. “It is leaders who talk to the FDD face to face who can best persuade them to observe the rules of war,” said Des Forges.
FDD forces abducted more than fifty students in grades four to six from Kirambi primary school in the eastern province of Ruyigi on November 6. Three days later other FDD rebels abducted more than one hundred students from Musema high school in Kayanza province and burned the school to the ground. The rebels forced the students to transport goods stolen from nearby homes and shops and beat those who faltered en route. In previous attacks, rebels often obliged civilians to accompany them to transport looted goods and then released them. But last week rebels reportedly told the students that they would not release them and would turn them into soldiers to help in their war against the government, now in its eighth year.
Many of the Musema students escaped from the rebels, some of them fleeing when government soldiers attacked the FDD forces. Several from Kirambi also evaded their captors and returned home. But dozens of students, mostly the younger ones, remain in rebel hands. The youngest child captured was twelve years old.
