Pygmies flee intimidation

2005-03-09 20:19

Bujumbura - About 800 Burundians, including 200 from the country's minority pygmy population, have fled to neighbouring Rwanda since late February in fear of political intimidation, officials here said on Wednesday.

The refugees, among them a large group of Twa pygmy tribespeople, began leaving their homes in the hills of Burundi's northeast Busconi area on February 26, two days ahead of a landmark nationwide referendum on a new power-sharing constitution.

"They have sought refuge in Rwanda," Liberate Nicayenzi, a Twa legislator from Burundi's Kirundo province, told AFP.

Provincial administrator Philippe Njoni said in addition to the fleeing Twa, who represent about one percent of Burundi's population, some 600 ethnic minority Tutsis had gone to Rwanda.

"They say that they fled because of intimidation from Hutus who threatened them for having voted against the constitution," Njoni said.

His comments were echoed by Nicayenzi on behalf of the pygmies.

"The Twa who have sought refuge in Rwanda say that the Hutus threatened them with dire consequences because of their support of the Tutsis," Nicayenzi said.

The constitution, which was overwhelmingly endorsed in the February 28 referendum, enshrined a power-sharing formula between minority Tutsis and majority Hutus.

It was opposed by Tutsis who have dominated Burundi's political leadership since independence from Belgium in 1962 who feared it would erode their decades-old hold on power.

Approval of the constitution was a key step in a peace process intended to promote national reconciliation in the country which is still emerging from a bloody ethnically motivated 11-year civil war that claimed some 300 000 lives.

- AFP