TANZANIA REFUTES CROSS BORDER SHELLING
Edition #9 22 November 1997
Tanzania has denied allegations that its forces attacked Burundi in the last week of October causing loss of life and damage to property.
The government said in Dar es Salaam, through a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, that it was Burundi who provoked Tanzania's troops. The statement said it was the Burundi army that attacked the Kiteule detachment of the Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF), situated at Kagunga, on October 28, and that the TPDF simply retaliated.
According to the statement, the Burundi military regime was trying to hoodwink the world that there was conflict between Burundi and Tanzania as a cover for Burundi's own internal conflicts. 'Being provoked, the Tanzanian forces had to exercise their right of self defense in accordance with the UN charter, Article 51' read the statement. The government said it has an obligation to protect its citizens and its national integrity. Being a signatory to international conventions governing refugees, Tanzania has the obligation to ensure the safety of its people. "The conditions generating the exodus of the people of Burundi to neigbouring countries are well-known to the international community," the government underlined in its statement. Tanzania would not be drawn into a purely internal Burundi conflict not even following recent acts of provocation by Burundi armed forces.
As the retired Tanzanian president Mwalimu Julius Nyerere is mediating the ethnic conflict between the Tutsi (minority) dominated military junta and Hutu (majority) armed forces, it was first said that Tanzania was not impartial. Beyond questioning the neutrality of the mediator mandated by the sub-region countries, the Burundian junta refused to participate in all party negotiations, alleging that their representatives would not feel secure in Tanzania, as this country was home to Hutu rebels. Tanzania gave shelter to Hutu refugees, who fled ethnic violence in their own country. The Tutsi dominated military junta ruling Burundi claimed that the Hutu camps in Tanzania were close to the common border, and this was forbidden by international law. Furthermore, Burundi accused Tanzania of offeringsanctuary to Hutu rebel groups against which the Tutsi dominated army has been fighting since 1993, in almost the whole country. Observers say that at least 150,000 people have been killed in the continuing violence.
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