Hutu survivors have flooded refugee camps in Burundi over the past four months

December 11, 1999
Web posted at: 4:13 p.m. EST (2113 GMT)

From Correspondent Alphonso Van Marsh

TANZANIA-BURUNDI BORDER (CNN) -- After weeks of moving through the Central African bush, 23-year-old Ntihomana Silvanu crossed the Burundi border into Tanzania.

"I ran away because of the war between the Hutus and Tutsis," said Silvanu, who left her home and extended family behind in Burundi.

"Soldiers came to our village. We heard gunshots. We started running," she said. "We passed dead women and children on the way."

In the hills of Burundi, six years of ethnic conflict between the country's Tutsi-dominated army and Hutu rebel groups has claimed 150,000 lives.

GALLERY Refugee life     AUDIO CNN's Jim Clancey interviews Gilbert Khadiagala, Associate Professor of African Studies at Johns Hopkins University about the crisis in Burundi 932k/85 sec. AIFF or WAV sound 1.3M/120 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who is acting as a peace broker in the region, told U.S. President Bill Clinton Saturday that efforts to ease tensions in Burundi were "moving as they should."

Still, thousands of Hutu survivors -- 85,000 in the past four months alone -- have flooded refugee camps, where they receive meager food, health care and shelter. Within days, they will be trucked to full-scale refugee camps.

Many Burundians bring harrowing accounts of violence carried out by both government troops and the rebels. But such accounts are nearly impossible to verify.

Aid agencies scaled back their operations after two United Nations workers were killed in Burundi last October. The Burundian government has limited access, making it difficult for Tanzania-based organizations to anticipate refugee numbers.

Refugees live with meager supplies and little food

As the number of refugees swells, some aid organizations are questioning whether it's time for the international community to step in with its own military force.

"We have done a similar thing in Kosovo and elsewhere -- why not for Burundi?" asks George Kuchio of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

"If the government out there is incapable of taking care of its people, if the government is incapable of sitting down with the rebels and coming up with a solution as to what they should do, I think it's time to close an eye to the elements of sovereignty, so to speak."