Rights lobby slams Burundi deal

Burundi rebels injured and maimed many civilians during the war

An amnesty given to Burundi rebels who committed war crimes has been criticised by a human rights group.

Human Rights Watch says in a report that the accord that spares the fighters from prosecution will encourage more crimes.

Citing examples like Sierra Leone, the lobby says peace accords based on immunity from prosecution rarely work.

The main Hutu rebel group, the Forces for Defence of Democracy, signed up to a peace deal in November.

Immunity

The report by Human Rights Watch catalogues, murder, rape and looting committed by all sides and predicts that these crimes will continue.

The reports argues that the amnesty will encourage the rebels and soldiers to continue with offences.

But negotiators for the Burundi peace deal say the immunity is necessary to achieve peace.

The United Nations and South African Government who were the architects of Burundi agreement have hailed the peace accord.

They say its is a big step towards ending the conflict which began in 1993.

The war in Burundi began when the Tutsi-dominated army assassinated the first elected Hutu President Melchior Ndadaye.

The Forces for National Liberation (FNL), a smaller Hutu rebel group, has rejected the peace deal with the government and has pledged to continue fighting.

Last week, FDD rebels captured seven members of the FNL, illustrating the co-operation that now exists between the rebel group and the government.

The former head of FDD's armed wing Adolphe Nshimiramana, was named the deputy head of Burundi's Tutsi-dominated national army this month, marking the start of integration of the rebels into the force.

Burundi's civil war, has claimed more than 300,000 lives, most of them civilians.