Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 1, 1973, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press monday october 1, 1973 15 Tanzania offers Sanctuary to Burundi s hunted refugees by Tony Avirgan Christian science Monitor news service Tabora Tanzania As Dawn Breaks the refugees who have been siting in Railroad cars on the siding for an hour begin to step Down slowly. I the first few to do so Are usually teenagers who move cautiously and glance from Side to Side to see if anyone will Stop them. When no one Aon the others come out until the platform is a mass of peo ple of cloth sacks containing All their posses Sions. The people Are poorly dressed often in Little More than rags. Many carry Long stalks of sugarcane which has been their Only food for Days. For such a mass of people there is a strange and eerie silence. No one talks express s i o n s reveal apprehension about a new and Uncertain life in a foreign country. These refugees separate 1 from families and often ill maimed or wounded Are Hutu people of Burundi the ones who have made it to safety in neighbouring Tanzania. Every Day anywhere from a handful to several Hundred bedraggled Hutu daring to travel Only at night Cross the Border into Tanzania. They Are fleeing a genocidal Campaign being waged by Burundi president Michael i Comber s Tutsi government against the Hutu people who compose 85 per cent of the population. President i Sombero fears that the Hutu will overthrow the Tutei government As they did in neighbouring Rwanda in 1960. There Are chilling reports that or. Mico Bero has recently spoken of obtaining i Merical parity in Burundi there Are now 3 million Hutu and Only Tutsi already Between this year and a similar Campaign in 1972 from to Hutu have been lulled. Those who make it to Tan Zania encounter an ii Usua and humane refugee program arriving by foot in the Border town of Kogoma those who Don t have relatives living in Tanzania and Don t require immediate medical Aid Are sent 200 Miles by train to Tabora. Their pre Dawn arrival at the Tabora train station Marks Thi beginning of an elaborate Yel quiet almost unnoticed daily ritual in the Central tanzanian town. First a White Robed Homan Catholic priest arrives on his m o r c y c 1 e to Check the Railroad siding and see How Many cars o f refugees Nave been left by the train before it continues to dares Salaam. He rides off to notify the Sisters of Theresa a group of nun from India who Are de voted to helping the poor. Thi Sisters then Telephone a tanzanian of Arab descent runs a trucking company in Tabora. Soon a land Rover arrive carrying two of the nuns. They Are followed by six Large ram bling trucks belonging to Hus Sein Hamdan. The nuns Leat to the train Sta tips parking lot and separate the men and women. Still there is almost total s Lence. Those seriously ill o wounded Are placed in the land Rover and taken to to Hospital the others Are handed loaves of bread donated b the Sisters of Theresa. Then the Sisters the rows of refugees Efferin trousers shirts and Dresse that their order has collected from around the world. The children seem to end u with most of the new clothing and the Little girls Are Soo looking proud in Bright Cotto print dresses. By a.m., or. Hamda begins to Divide the people int six groups and line them behind each truck. No on raises a voice when talking t 1 the refugees. From the nuns the truck Drivers everyone smiles kindly and the refugee District. The grateful ther end is that of a mexican Octor released from prison after serving Only three months of a 17-year sentence in political True he had been tortured is life had been threatened and the safety of his family Enove about silently in absolute Hedi ence. For centuries in Burundi icy have been completely sub gated by the Tutsi and they ave Learned to obey Nuques of singly. Release brings Joy by Kevin Doyle London up hone jangles in a cluttered of be near London s Bloomsbury voice on the after crowding into the trucks they begin the 60-mile journey Down the dirt strip that passes for a Road in this part of East Africa. After three hours they arrive to join the Hutu refugees Al ready living in Ulyan Kulu ref Ugee settlement. Ulyan Kulu is most notable i for what it is not that is what one usually thinks of As a re Fugee there Are no fences or guards. The people Are not huddled together on Bare Earth mindless and neglected. Ulyan Kulu is a settlement de signed to allow the refugees to regain their dignity and begin productive lives in the shortest possible time. Upon arrival at the Settle ment the refugees Are taken to the reception Centre. Here they will spend one or two Days depending on the size of the group. During this period each Refu is interviewed and the in formation recorded on a Settle ment registration card. Every one receives blankets farming angered. But that was forgot in in his Joy at being re eased. The doctor whose identity As been kept secret was ironing the Headquarters of n e s t y International to press his gratitude for their efforts on his behalf. Amnesty in its own words s an Independent non governmental organization which has consultative status Vith the United nations and he Council of Europe. It in leavers to ensure the right of Iveryne to hold and express is the Agency is one of the few realistic Liberal experiments of the Early 1960s to have sur ived and flourished in the More cynical 1970s. Its main objective is to work in behalf of prisoners in All parts of the world who Are Leld on political racial or religious grounds. They include an anti Castro Octor in. Cuba political de Annees in Northern Ireland draft resisters in the United states and roman Catholic priests in Paraguay and Hun Gary. Once the organization learns if and adopts a prisoner the government in the country concerned is bombarded with let ers and cards from amnesty a members All Over he world newspapers and Bra casting outlets Are also informed. The organization s London executive then requests Jer Mission from the govern Rient involved to carry out an mho spot investigation. Even though this is usually refused amnesty officials believe it often embarrasses a govern ment to such an extent that it releases a prisoner rather than e n d u r e Strong International criticism. Amnesty says countries which have been found to have relatively clean records in elude Australia Canada the Netherlands Sweden West Ermany and Gambia. But does the organization s campaigns to free prisoners in other countries have any real effect Mark Grantham an executive officer with amnesty believes the policy of publicizing unjust imprisonments is far More important than is usually recognized. Governments have a Neu he says they like to be liked hot thought no one can be certain How Many prisoners have been re leased through the Agency s efforts. But conservative estimates place the number at about at least to make our existence most w o r t h w h i 1 says Grantham tools food and an explanation the operations of the Settle ment even during the first two Days a change can be seen h the refugees responses. Though still relatively quie., the silence is no longer absolute. People talk to one another a they stroll about exploring their new surroundings. Cd each other through the crowds laughing loudly. When the processing at the reception Centre is completed the refugees again Board trucks to be taken to the land that will be their new Home. At this stage this Home is nothing More than a dirt Road built into the Forest. The Refu gees Are left along the Road and instructed to build Tempo Rary shelters. Grass huts Dot the area by the end of the Day. For the following few months the refugees will be Busy building permanent houses and Clearing the five acres of land that each family is they will receive food for at least a year while they Clear the land grow and Harvest food crops. The land at Ulyan Kulu is Fer tile. The area is under popular Tanzania needs More land to be cultivated. So eventually the settlement at Ulyan Kulu will Benefit Tanzania As Well As the refugees. There Are numerous schools throughout the settlement and adults As Well As children Are encouraged though not required to attend. Attendance is High probably because the Hutu had difficulty obtaining eruption in Burundi. Most of the furniture in the schools and often the buildings themselves were built by the students e fact i which they take great Pride. In Many other ways Ulyan Kulu is designed to help the refugees regain Pride and begin productive lives. The set element is run under a joint agreement Between the tanzanian government the tanzanian Christian Relief ser vices and the United nations world food program. Tanzania s open policy to Ward refugees has caused i some serious problems. Last March a Burundi in crossed into Tanzania looking for refugees and destroyed a Village killing74 people 31 tanzanians and 43 Burundi ref Burundi at first denied the attack but later apologized and agreed to pay compensation. Then on june 30 a similar incident occurred in which eight tanzanians were killed. Tanzanian dockworkers responded to this attack by re fusing to handle goods going in our out of landlocked Burundi. This was a severe blow to Burundi s shaky Economy which depends heavily on cof fee exports through dares Salaam. Tanzanian troops were moved to the Border and on july 12, when Burundi troops again crossed the Border they were beaten Back and pursued into Burundi. Tension Between the two countries mounted until finally on july 21 president Mico hero accompanied by his Friend and neighbor president Mobutu sese seko of Zaire came to dares Salaam to Confer with tanzanian pres ident Julius Nyerere. Their meeting produced an admission of responsibility for the Border incidents from colonel Mico Bero and a pledge by or. Nyerere to Call off the Boycott. Since then there has been no Border incident involving the two countries. However the Slaughter of the Hutu continues inside Burundi and refugees continue to Cross the Border seeking a new life in Tanzania. What has Sheraton done for you lately Sheraton is building lots of exciting new hotels and motor inns for to coast in the u.s.a., Hawaii Canada and All Over the world. You can enjoy a new Sauna in Chicago a new Squash court in Toronto a Barber shop that s a bar in Cleveland and a 30-Story Glass elevator in Honolulu. For reservations Call 942-0881 in Winnipeg or have your travel agent Call for you. 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