URGENT ACTION APPEAL: CHILDREN'S EDITION
Urgent Action Program Office P.O. Box 1270 Nederland CO 80466-1270 ph. 303 440 0013 fax: 303 258 7881 e-mail: sharrison@igc.apc.org
CHILDREN'S EDITION
UA 150/96
BURUNDI: Maco Nahimana, age 14
July/August 1996
Amnesty International is very worried about 14-year-old Maco Nahimana and fifteen other children of the Hutu ethnic group
The children were arrested in Bujumbura, the capital city of Burundi. The Tutsi soldiers who arrested them never told the children or their parents why they were being taken away.
There have been many violent incidents between Hutu and Tutsi people in Burundi since 1993. The soldiers in Burundi are mainly from the Tutsi ethnic group. They have been responsible for kidnaping many Hutu young people. Some of these young people have never been seen again.
Amnesty International believes that Maco Nahimana and the fifteen Hutu youngsters may be hurt by the soldiers. Amnesty International asks that the sixteen children arrested by Tutsi soldiers of the Second Battalion be located and returned to their homes at once.
Please write a courteous letter to the minister of defense of Burundi who is in charge of the army. Ask the minister to find Maco and the children who were arrested in June 1996 by soldiers from the Second Battalion. Urge the minister to make sure the children are returned home unharmed right away.
The address for the Minister of Defense is: [SALUTATION]
MINISTRE DE LA DEFENSE NATIONALE SINZOYIHEBA [Your Excellency]
MINISTERE DE LA DEFENSE NATIONALE
B.P. 20
BUJUMBURA
BURUNDI