Associated Press negationist over Burundi killings?
A series of reports by Aloys Niyoyita of the Associated Press news agency have attempted to downplay the reality of Burundi's ethnically-motivated killings since 1993. Niyoyita has repeatedly claimed that most of the several hundred thousand civilians killed in Burundi "died from disease and hunger", making no mention of the ethnic massacres that have plagued the country in recent years.
Niyoyita also states the resulting death toll as "more than 250,000", where most sources put the figure at 300,000.
Niyoyita's claim that most of those killed in Burundi died through "disease and hunger" looks decidedly odd when compared with the information presented by human rights groups and other mainstream news outlets.
A number of sources state that 150,000 Burundians were deliberately killed in ethnic massacres between 1993 and 1996 alone. For example:
"In the past three years, more than 150,000 Burundians have been victims of massacres" - CNN, July 22 1996: http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9607/22/burundi.aftermath/index.html
"The human rights abuses suffered by refugees who have been forced back to Burundi form part of a continuing pattern of atrocities taking place in the country, which has seen more than 150,000 men, women and children killed since 1993.", - Amnesty International, 21 November 1996 http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR160351996?open&of=ENG-351
Most reports also now put the current death toll at significantly more than 250,000, eg:
"within months Ndadaye had been assassinated, setting the scene for years of Hutu-Tutsi violence in which an estimated 300,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed." - BBC, 18 July 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1068873.stm
"In 1993, it plunged into all-out civil war in which some 300,000 people were killed" - Reuters Alertnet, undated: http://www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=/db/crisisprofiles/BI_REC.htm
"It is estimated that, since 1993, the hostilities have claimed between 250,000 and 300,000 lives, mostly civilians.", United Nations, December 2003
http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N03/634/93/PDF/N0363493.pdf?OpenElement
The Associated Press has declined to comment on Niyoyita's reports, or the basis for his claim that most of Burundi's victims have died from disease or hunger rather than being deliberately killed.
Burundi, human rights, Current Affairs, Politics, Africa
Niyoyita also states the resulting death toll as "more than 250,000", where most sources put the figure at 300,000.
Niyoyita's claim that most of those killed in Burundi died through "disease and hunger" looks decidedly odd when compared with the information presented by human rights groups and other mainstream news outlets.
A number of sources state that 150,000 Burundians were deliberately killed in ethnic massacres between 1993 and 1996 alone. For example:
"In the past three years, more than 150,000 Burundians have been victims of massacres" - CNN, July 22 1996: http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9607/22/burundi.aftermath/index.html
"The human rights abuses suffered by refugees who have been forced back to Burundi form part of a continuing pattern of atrocities taking place in the country, which has seen more than 150,000 men, women and children killed since 1993.", - Amnesty International, 21 November 1996 http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR160351996?open&of=ENG-351
Most reports also now put the current death toll at significantly more than 250,000, eg:
"within months Ndadaye had been assassinated, setting the scene for years of Hutu-Tutsi violence in which an estimated 300,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed." - BBC, 18 July 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1068873.stm
"In 1993, it plunged into all-out civil war in which some 300,000 people were killed" - Reuters Alertnet, undated: http://www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=/db/crisisprofiles/BI_REC.htm
"It is estimated that, since 1993, the hostilities have claimed between 250,000 and 300,000 lives, mostly civilians.", United Nations, December 2003
http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N03/634/93/PDF/N0363493.pdf?OpenElement
The Associated Press has declined to comment on Niyoyita's reports, or the basis for his claim that most of Burundi's victims have died from disease or hunger rather than being deliberately killed.
Burundi, human rights, Current Affairs, Politics, Africa
posted by R | 1:03 AM
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