Tanzania accused of supporting terrorism to destabilise Burundi

Wednesday, July 6, 2005

The African news website www.abarundi.org has accused Tanzania of being a state sponsor of terrorism, by helping Hutu-extremists in neighbouring Burundi to destabilise the country's newly-elected government. As widely predicted, Burundi's ruling "Frodebu" party, which has close links to Tanzania, was heavily defeated in this week's elections. The former Hutu rebel group CNDD-FDD, now a multi-ethnic party, won a convincing victory with 58% of the vote. Frodebu polled just 22%.

It was the first national democratic vote since 1993, when a military coup plunged Burundi into a decade-long, ethnically-charged civil war. During the election campaign, CNDD-FDD accused Frodebu of stirring up racial divisions, and of employing members of the Hutu-extremist FNL to kill and intimidate voters. The FNL rebels have remained outside the Burundian peace process, despite the restoration of democracy, and a series of heavy defeats by the Burundian army. On June 16th attackers believed to be members of the FNL massacred six churchgoers in the Muhuta district of Rural Bujumbura. During earlier local elections, the FNL had attacked a polling station, killing a United Nations peacekeeper, and killed several people in "hit and run" attacks on the Burundian capital Bujumbura. Frodebu denied involvement in the violence, but have recently admitted "political collaboration" with the FNL.

www.abarundi.org reports that the Tanzanian government has offered material support to the FNL leader and helped formalise the "unholy alliance" between Frodebu and the FNL:

"With the assistance of the Tanzanians, [FNL leader] Agathon Rwasa has moved his HQ from the hills around Bujumbura, where he was already in difficulty, to the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam, where he can enjoy the protection of the Tanzanian secret service."

"Rwasa, who has nothing more to lose, has accepted that the success of the elections mean political death for the FNL, and their position as 'Hutu defenders' has become obsolete."

"But if Rwasa's strategy is merely his own survival, Frodebu's calculation is far more diabolical - they intend to perpetuate Burundi's bloody civil war and state of insecurity, in order to undermine the new institutions."

Sources

""Former Hutu rebels took 58 percent of Burundi vote"" — Reuters, July 6, 2005
"www.abarundi.org: With help from the Tanzanian secret service, the FNL and Frodebu have made an unholy alliance" — CPAR, July 5, 2005
"Avec l'aide des services secrets tanzaniens, le Frodebu et le FNL ont conclu un deal diabolique" — www.abarundi.org, July 4, 2005
""Fears in Burundi as second voting starts"" — East African Standard, July 4, 2005
""Burundi leader addresses security; rebels link rivals to Rwanda's Kagame"" — Monsters and Critics, July 4, 2005
"L’argent qui fera le malheur du Palipehutu-Fnl et du Frodebu" — CNDD-FDD, June 30, 2005
"Six die as Rwasa's FNL massacres churchgoers" — Reuters, June 17, 2005

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication.