To Protect the People

Government-sponsored paramilitary forces known as “Guardians of the Peace” have committed many killings, rapes, and other crimes over the last four years in Burundi, Human Rights Watch charged today. In an eighteen-page report entitled “To Protect the People: The Government-Sponsored ‘Self-Defense’ Program in Burundi,” Human Rights Watch called on the Burundian government to disband the paramilitary force, which has been responsible for many violations of international humanitarian law. The Guardians, as well as similar patrols in urban areas, were established by the previous government as part of a “civilian self-defense” program to combat rebel forces in the eight-year-old civil war. A recently installed transitional government has so far continued the program. 18pp, 3.00