Burundi interrogates officers

2001-07-25 20:07

Maria Eismont

Bujumbura - Burundi's shaken government said on Tuesday it was interrogating officers behind a failed coup attempt to avert further threats to its authority amid heightened tension over efforts to end the country's civil war.

Dissident soldiers from the minority ethnic Tutsi community surrendered on Monday after trying to topple the government in an apparent bid to derail fresh peace efforts they fear will hand power to majority Hutus.

"The law will take its course," Defence Minister Cyrille told Reuters. He declined to say what punishment awaited those found guilty of trying to overthrow the government.

He added about 300 people took part in the coup attempt, much higher than earlier estimates of between 50 and 60. He said 10 of the 300 were army lieutenants, but did not disclose the total number of military personnel involved in the rebellion.

The authorities had not yet decided whether to continue their interrogation in the army camp where they were held in northern Ngozi province or to bring them to Bujumbura, he said.

Five high-ranking officers taken hostage by the rebels, including Libere Hicuburundi, chief of the army staff in President Pierre Buyoya's office, were freed when the dissidents surrendered, Rukingama said.

Residents of the capital Bujumbura said Tutsi hardliners opposed to Buyoya, a fellow Tutsi seen as a relative moderate, were likely to stage more attempts to topple the government until he stepped down.

Life has returned to what passes for normal in Bujumbura, a city virtually under siege with Hutu rebels camped in hills flanking the city and the Tutsi-led government arming civilians in case rumours of an impending rebel assault come true.

But the tiny African country's second failed coup attempt in four months has deepened the gloom of a population perpetually on edge after eight years of brutal ethnic conflict.

It also cast a shadow over a summit in neighbouring Tanzania on Monday where Burundian parties from both sides agreed to start a three-year transition to democracy on November 1.

Some Tutsis supported coup

Many Tutsis said they were disappointed by the surrender of the dissidents, who at one point on Monday tried to free rebel Tutsi troops jailed for launching a failed putsch on April 18.

"Those guys are crazy," said Jean, a Tutsi selling tyres in a small shop. "Why did they surrender with all the weapons that they had and after going all the way to the border?"

Hutu residents said they feared the coup showed hardline Tutsis were bent on wrecking the transition.

"The people who did this yesterday are the enemies of peace," said Louis Ndikumana, a Hutu. "Every time there is a hope of peace they try to destabilise this process."

A summit communiqué said Buyoya would lead the country for the first 18 months of the transition period with a deputy from the Hutu majority. It did not mention who would lead for the second half, but previous plans have envisaged a Hutu president.

Regional leaders at the summit, mediated by former South African President Nelson Mandela, hope the deal will create a government with enough popular support from Hutus to choke off sympathy for the rebels and bring them to the negotiating table.

But analysts said the agreement was unlikely to end the war quickly, pointing to an intensification of fighting this year in the conflict in which 200 000 people have died since 1993.

- Reuters