Sir, - Please spare a thought and some space in your columns for the thousands on the brink of annihilation in Burundi. Last week end more than 300 helpless Tutsi, mostly women and children, were hacked and beaten to death. There is a fast escalating situation of chaos and killing, attacks and reprisals, by the Hutu rebels and the Tutsi dominated Government forces.
We all know about it. We are still wringing our hands about what happened in Rwanda in 1994, while we stood by. A million civilians were hacked and beaten to death; the world knew and waited. Now it is happening in Burundi. We are even better informed, and if we stand by we deserve castigation.
Ireland holds the EU presidency. The EU includes the countries capable of the greatest influence in the Great Lakes region of Africa. They were meeting here in Dublin yesterday. Ambassador Richard Bozozian, US special co ordinator for Rwanda and Burundi, visited Dublin to confer with Minister, Joan Burton, who is just back from the region. Ireland must act, and must act now. The international community is challenged and called upon to prevent another genocide. Ireland is cast in a central role.
Military interventions are a last resort, but we have reached the point of last resort. Concern adds its voice to the call for fullest support for the military intervention now proposed. Intervention by African forces to stop the killing is critically needed. Such a force cannot be funded by African states; we and the EU must support it. We must also call on the US to play its crucial part.
Military intervention can be but one of the many initiatives called for. The former Tanzanian President, Julius Nyerere, and others are trying desperately. No avenue must be left unexplored in seeking solutions to this highly complex conflict. Stopping the bloodletting is the first step. A decision to do nothing is a decision to accept a massacre, while standing by. - Yours, etc.,
Chief Executive of Concern,
Concern Worldwide,
Camden Street,
Dublin 2.