"We are not afraid of appearing in front of the International Court. We have been wanting international justice to be interested in the killings in Burundi for a long time," Habimana said by phone, apparently from a base in Congo.
A decade of violence between the region's majority Hutus and minority Tutsis has racked central Africa, including the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a continuing civil war in Burundi that started in 1993, and two invasions of Congo by Rwanda and Burundi in attempts to root out Hutu militias. The Congolese Tutsi refugees attacked in the Burundi camp had fled fighting in the Congo.
The Hutu-led rebels have been fighting a Burundi government dominated by minority Tutsis since 1993. But Burundian and Rwandan officials have maintained that other extremists from Rwanda and Congo took part in the attack in Gatumba.
Rwanda's interior minister and Burundi's defense minister have both threatened to send troops into Congo to what they call a genocide against Congolese Tutsis.
Officials from the International Criminal Court in The Hague said they were considering an investigation into the attack to determine if rebel leaders should face trial.
The rebels have rejected any proposal that they face trial in a Burundian or regional court.
The World Food Program said yesterday it was providing food to the wounded and other survivors of the Aug. 13 attack. "This savage slaughter of refugees is appalling and an outrage that the whole international community condemns," said Foday Turay, the Food Program's deputy country director in Burundi. "WFP urges all parties to end violence so that security can be restored to allow humanitarian aid to reach both the Congolese refugees and other communities in need of food in Burundi."
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