Burundi's army said yesterday that it might cross into neighboring Congo to pursue rebels and militia it blames for massacring 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a camp in western Burundi.
The head of Burundi's army, Brigadier-General Germain Niyoyankana, said the military was prepared to move into Democratic Republic of Congo if the Kinshasa government failed to disarm the rebels and allied militia.
PHOTO: AFP
"We must avoid a new attack from Congo, so the Burundi army does not rule out an offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Everything depends on the Congolese government," Niyoyankana told reporters.
The Burundi army blames the rebel Hutu Forces for National Liberation (FNL), former Rwandan forces and Hutu militia operating in Congo as well as sections of the Congolese army for Friday's attack.
The FNL, the only rebel group still fighting the Burundian government, claimed responsibility for the attack in which refugees were burned, hacked and shot to death.
The UN said yesterday that it has suspended peace talks with the FNL for taking part in the massacre, one of the worst in central Africa in years.
The army welcomed the suspension but urged the international community to take stiffer action against the FNL.
"The FNL has proved that it does not want to talk peace. The world must impose sanctions against these people," Niyoyankana said, urging the international community to ensure that the rebels do not get fresh supplies of weapons.
Meanwhile, Rwandan President Paul Kagame accused the UN yesterday of "doing nothing" to bring peace to the region.
"It is clear that they are doing nothing," said Kagame, himself a Tutsi. "We cannot remain with folded arms. We have to look for other ways to resolve the problem, especially at the level of the African Union," Kagame said on national radio after returning from a mini-summit of African leaders on the massacre in Gatumba.
The UN has long had a campaign to disarm and repatriate Rwandan Hutu rebels in Congo, offering incentives for them to return home.
Kagame stopped short of blaming the ex-Rwandan armed forces and the Interahamwe for last week's massacre.
He indicated that participants at the African mini-summit, held in Pointe-Noire in the Congo Republic -- the Congo's smaller western neighbor -- had agreed that the international community and Burundi should jointly conduct an inquiry to find out who was responsible for the Gatumba slaughter.
One of the extremist Rwandan Hutu groups based in the Congo, the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, said on Monday it was "in no way responsible for" the Gatumba massacre.
Rwanda has made it clear that it wants action following the massacre.
"Rwanda is resolved to no longer tolerate acts of genocide in the world," Rwanda's minister for local administration, Christophe Bazivamo, said on Monday at the funeral for the victims of the massacre.
"Rwanda is ready to bring aid to and intervene ... to stop genocide and calm down the people, as in Darfur," in western Sudan, he said.
Rwanda was the first member of the African Union to send soldiers to Darfur as part of an African Union protection force for cease-fire observers in west Sudan, where more than a year's strife has led to a massive humanitarian crisis.
Rwanda "will no longer settle for being a spectator," Bazivamo said. "Nobody should be unaware that Rwanda is ready to cooperate ... to fight terrorists."
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS