An Irish Jesuit priest who has been working with refugees in Africa since 1979 has called on Ireland in its role as president of the EU to ensure resources are made available to Burundi for development in its post-conflict situation.
Father John Guiney, who has been in Ireland on a fundraising trip, said since the assassination last month of Archbishop Michael Courtney, the FNL, which had been accused of the killing, had entered into talks with the government there.
"It is important that funding is in place to rebuild Burundi in light of ceasefires by the FNL and all warring parties putting down their arms." He encouraged the Government to use its influence with Tanzania not to pressure refugees from Burundi to return home while there still existed dangers that they might be killed or attacked.
Describing Tanzania as "a wonderful host" to refugees for so long, he noted that fatigue was setting in, and feared that refugees from Burundi might be forced home, as had happened with refugees from Rwanda in 1996.
He said in the decade since the slaughter in Rwanda ended in April 1994, 2.5 million people who died in "silent massacres" in the region were ignored by the world.
Father Guiney also felt the Irish presidency should act on a UN report of October 2003 which had found that named multinationals, including EU companies, were in breach of international protocols through their involvement in extensive looting and exploitation of mineral resources in East Congo.
It also found that some neighbouring countries were involved under the guise of protecting their borders.
Father Guiney is regional director of Jesuit Refugee Services in East Africa, which includes Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia. The order operates 30 projects in refugee camps in the region, where the emphasis is on education and pastoral work.
He said that of the estimated 50 million refugees in the world, some 10 per cent were in that region.
