Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-15-Speech-4-126"
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"en.20040115.7.4-126"2
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"Mr President, Burundi has been plagued by violence and tension between the Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority for many years. Democratic elections were held in 1993, which gave some hope for the resolution of this bloody conflict. However, this progress was short lived, as the newly elected Head of State was assassinated and this triggered yet another massacre. Since this period, Burundi has lurched from crisis to crisis, with many thousands of people losing their lives in the process.
A ceasefire was brokered by Nelson Mandela in 2002 but later collapsed. A second power sharing deal was signed in 2003, which finally brought three of the main rebel groups into government, although, regrettably, fighting and abuse of human rights continues in several areas. Only the National Liberation Forces rejected this deal and this group has been linked to the death of the Irish Archbishop, Michael Courtney, who was the Vatican's envoy to Burundi.
Archbishop Courtney was heavily involved in the peace process and played a significant role in bringing about this recent progress. Unfortunately, he paid a high price for his noble and unselfish involvement in the Burundi conflict when he was murdered by rebel groups on 29 December 2003. This was senseless and a terrible tragedy for his family, friends and colleagues from the church.
As Mr Ford also pointed out, Michael Courtney made a valuable contribution to the current peace process in Burundi and I would hope there will be a full inquiry into his death which will bring those responsible for his death to justice. Perhaps the tragedy of his death will intensify regional and international pressure on the FNL to sign up to the peace agreement following their long-overdue talks with the government, so that no more lives are needlessly lost and so that peace is finally restored to Burundi."@en1
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