Fiona
Bruce MP raises concerns of deteriorating human rights in Burundi in the House
of Commons
Fiona Bruce spoke
yesterday in Parliament of the grave civil disturbances in Burundi, a country
the MP led aid teams to in 2013 and 14 and with which she has an ongoing
connection as Patron of an orphanage in the capital Bujumbura. Introducing the debate
she said when she visited she “received a
welcome from the Burundian people that could not have been warmer.”
Pointing out that the country is one of the poorest on Earth she explained that
disturbances had originated following the contentious announcement a year ago
by the President to seek a third term in office, something not permitted under
the constitution.
Speaking in the House Fiona Bruce said
“Weekly reports are coming in of new violence
and killings and of the Government adopting a strategy of eliminating their
opponents. Grounds for suspicion have been described as razor thin. A scared
15-year-old was killed while simply running away from the police. A cameraman
and his family were killed, seemingly in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Another victim was a teenage boy selling eggs (…) Alarmingly, there have been
reports of hundreds of Burundians, perhaps more—they are often young
Burundians; those between their mid-teens and mid-20s—having disappeared or
been tortured, reportedly with gun butts, electric cables, bricks or metal
rods, with some having even been required to sit in acid (…) Burundi has become
a place of fear.”
“Perhaps the biggest fear of all is that
this conflict, which has so far been fought on political lines, could divide
Burundi on ethnic ones, between Hutus and Tutsis, and lead to new massacres.
History has shown that such events can happen swiftly, as in Rwanda in 1994,
with the outside world barely noticing until it was too late. To prevent that,
above all, is surely why we in this place must sound an alarm and call on our
Government to call on the UN and others in the international community to do
all they can to step in to secure peace and stability for the people of
Burundi.”
The MP expressed particular concern
about the impact on children saying
“Children, who make up half of Burundians, suffer disproportionately as a result of violence,
exploitation, and family separation. More than 230,000 people have fled in the
past year alone, and that number is increasing. Most have gone as refugees to
Rwanda and Tanzania, but some have gone to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and Uganda.”
