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THE INTELLIGENCER, SATURDAY, JULY 15, IS72 Local Survive Burundi War ( Burundi may be a pivotal point in the East-West axis, with the balance between the two major world powers pois- ed on the cutting edge of the machetes being weildcd by both sides in the struggle. Burundi is a tiny country, four degrees below the equa- tor, wedged between Zaire (the former Belgian Congo) to the west and Tanzania to the east. Ten thousand square miles in area, it supports a population of SVfe million. It is a mountainous country, listed in last year's United Nations report as the most rural coun- try in the world. It has only two ciitcs. Like its twin neighboring republic of Rwanda, it once belonged to Germany a n d was handed over to Belgium after the first world war and administered as part of The Congo. Centuries ago Burundi's in- habitants, the Hutu, were con- quered by a northern tribe. the Tutsi. The Tutsi now make up 15 per cent of the popula- tion and are firmly in con- trol of the government. Be- fore the Belgians abolished the practice, the Tutsi held the Hutu as forced labor. "The Tutsi say that before the missionaries came, the Hutu knew tmeir place." says Mrs. Lohnes. But, with the liberating influence of Belgian legislation and missionary ed- ucation, the younger genera- tion of Hutus developed a bit- ter resentment of the Tutsi elite. The seeds of tribal conflict were already sown when the country was granted indepen- dence in 1962, and a kingdom was set up under a young Tu- tsi ruler. In I960 the prime minister, Col. Michel Micom- bcro overthrew the king, and declared himself president of a Tutsi dictatorship Four attempted coups I'ol lowed in the next six years. This spring the exiled king appealed to the government of Uganda, and Uganda attain- ed written assurance from Bu- rundi that the king would be unmolested if h- returned to live as a private citizen in his country. "But as soon ar, ho landed in the capi ta) , Bunjumbura, he vvcis arrested and charged with plotting to overthrow the government," relates Mr. Lohnes. That was the spark that fan- ned the ^mou1 (it-ring hatred between the tribes. On April 29, f ighting broke out in f o u r centres, including the capital city, and unci ir its cover Col. Micombero had the kin." exe- cuted. The president dismiss- ed his cabinet and callect out. the army to control i'ightiiu:; in the southern province o(> the country. "It is now apparent t h a t a Hutus' people ; army of about 2,000 had 'teen or#'.iii/:e<l in southern Bu-Miv.li to ovcruvow the Tutsi rulars," says Mr. Lohnes. Many of its members were Hutu defectors I'roin the Bu- rundi army, vvno went, over to their tribesmen's side as an alternative to execution. The Hutu fore- was well- trained, and equipped w i t h automatic weapons and gre- nades. And this is one place where Mr. Lohnes' first-hand ac- count gibes with fragmentary news reports reaching h e r e from central Afr ica . Although he was loathe to comment on the source of the weapons and t h e country where the training took place, the missionary said one of the few American reporters on the scene in Burundi named Tanzania as the source. Tanzania, a "socialist re- public" has long accepted Chi- nese technical aide, ostensibly for the building of its ra i l - way. But Westerners living in Tanzania have reported that large numbers of Chinese mili- tary personnel are present in the country, carefully seques- tered in remote camps. Yes tcrclay, it was reported t h a t 90,000 Chinese are living in Tanzania, and officers now ap- pear openly in the streets in military uniform. After the first two \veeks of fighting, in which 50,000 Bur- undians were killed, the fi°;ht ing flickered out into sporadic guerrilla action that still con- tinues. But the Tutsi government and army began a massive retaliation that amounts to genocide for the Hutu tribe. First to be rounded up and killed were teachers, medical workers, church workers and businessmen. "The idea is to eliminate the potential of the educated Hu- tu people to set up a govern- ment," said Mr. Lohnes. In a secondary school 15 The signi'icaivje of Bur-m- milcs from the Lohnes home, ;di's agony may come into fo 40 Hutu students were round- cus with the realization that ed up and killed. He estimates one of the few \V/^t«rncrs con that more Hutus have been cerned wir.h thn situation and killed in the reprisal action making personal iAvestiffa than the 50,000 slain in tfte foils is Senate- Edward ' first fighting. Another 500,000 have fled the country. The bodies of the dead are quickly concealed in m a s s graves, one located a mile from the Lohnes' mission. In some places missionaries have reported the number of bodies so numerous that bull- dozers -had to be brought in to dig the graves. Totrl chaos now grips Bur uncli . With the Tutsi army in control. aU DOS al service hai; been eliminated, a total news blackout is in force, schools are closed and no s u p p l y trucks are cllowed to carry food and fuel into the inter- ior. Of Burundi'?, 4.000 primarv school teachers, 2,000 been killed in the- reprisals. "The country faces an eco- nomic crisis," says Mr. Loh- nes. "Th;s is the season for harvesting cotton and coffee, but the plantation:, have been abandoned and there will be no cash crsps taken off." What of the fu tu re? "The communif.U have a strong foothold in Tanzania/ says Mr. Lolu'es. "If t h e y can create contusion . . . " The Chinese government promised publicly 10 years ago that if it could take The Con- go, it would control all Afri- ca. The wholesale killings of the Tutsi reprisal actions h a v < • left the young Hutu "bitter and enraged", says the m i s sionary. And since they make up P>5 per cent of the popula- tion, Mr. Lohnes expects an uprising that will ro>Lut in a blood bath worse than those of this spring and summer. Although reluctant to in- dulge in political commentary, the returned missionary was spurred into telling his story by a Hutu doctor, educated in Belgium and ready to return to practice in his country. Now, he is an exile. "Eight or 10 people die in Ireland and it makes head- lines," the doctor told him. "Yet thousands of my people are dying every day, and the world is oblivious to it." Not quite.