Today marks the sixth anniversary of Burundi's Titanic Express bus massacre, in which Charlotte Wilson, a British aid worker, was killed, together with her Burundian fiancé, Richard Ndereyimana, and 19 others. The Hutu extremist group responsible, Palipehutu-FNL, has carried out hundreds of attacks since, most notoriously the massacre of 153 Congolese Tutsis at the Gatumba refugee camp in August 2004.
In violation of international law, and article eight of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Burundi's government has chosen not to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes. Instead, Palipehutu-FNL was this year awarded immunity from prosecution in a deal applauded by the UN and some church groups. Yet while Burundi's war criminals continue to kill with impunity, dozens of innocent civilians have this year been detained, tortured and murdered by the country's ostensibly democratic government.
Six years after Charlotte Wilson's death there is no sign of any end to the cycle of abuse that claimed her life. We urge Burundi's international donors to think carefully about the consequences of continuing to give money to this increasingly corrupt and violent regime. And we urge the church groups involved in Burundi's peace process to show compassion not only to the country's war criminals, but also to the victims, their families, and the millions of others whose lives are at risk if these abuses remain unpunished.
Richard Wilson
Margot Wilson
Catherine Erdly
Enfield, Middlesex
titanicexpress.wordpress.com
