The village of Gatumba lies on the western side of

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

, near the border with the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. The place is known for a massacre that took place at a refugee camp connected to the village.

Massacre

On August 13, 2004, a refugee camp in Gatumba was the scene of one of the largest civilian

massacres A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

carried out in Burundi in recent years. A force of armed combatants, many of them members of the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), massacred at least 166 Congolese civilians and wounded another 106. The FNL is a predominantly

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

rebel movement known for its hostility to

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...

and the victims were largely

Banyamulenge Banyamulenge, also referred to as nyamurenge and banyamurenge (literally 'those who live in Mulenge') is the name that they adopted in the 80’s describes a Tutsi community in the southern part of Kivu who migrated from Rwanda and seek refuge in ...

, a group often categorized with

. The FNL is believed to have been behind a series of other attacks, including the December 28, 2000

Titanic Express massacre The Titanic Express massacre was an event which took place on 28 December 2000, in which 21 people were killed in an attack on a ''Titanic Express'' bus, close to Bujumbura (the then-capital of Burundi). The passengers, who had traveled from ...

. Brigadier-General Germain Niyoyankana, head of the Burundian army, accused Congolese troops of complicity in the killings. Following the FNL's admission of responsibility for the Gatumba massacre, the Burundian government issued arrest warrants for the group's leader,

Agathon Rwasa Agathon Rwasa (born 10 January 1964) is a Burundian politician and the leader of the National Liberation Forces (''Forces pour la Libération Nationale'', FNL). He was a Hutu militia leader during the Burundi Civil War. Rwasa was reported to b ...

, and declared its intention to

refer Refer or referral may refer to: *Reference, a relation of designation or linking between objects **Word-sense disambiguation, when a single term may refer to multiple meanings *Referral marketing, to personally recommend, endorse, and pass a perso ...

the matter to the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

issued a resolution condemning the attack, and the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

declared the FNL a terrorist organisation. No arrests have yet been made.

FNL statement

In October 2005, the FNL issued a statement condemning the Gatumba massacre, denouncing Agathon Rwasa for leading a "descent into hell", and announcing that he had been replaced. Rwasa was reported to have fled to Tanzania.

External links

BBC report on GatumbaHuman Rights Watch report on GatumbaUN Resolution 1602, reiterating condemnation of Gatumba massacre

References

2004 in Burundi Massacres in Burundi Populated places in Burundi {{Burundi-geo-stub