Uganda/Burundi 1) What is the present government attitude and treatment of members of the Acholi tribe in the province of Guluand Lira. 2) Burundi government attitude and treatment of Ugandans 1983-1984

1) As a complement to the last paragraph of response UGA2423, dated 26 October 1989, which described the position of the Museveni régime towards the Acholi population of the North, please find the following short assessment and refer to the attachment which gives explicit details on the current government's treatment of the Acholis. Major Okello Kolo, an Acholi, has recently provided a detailed description of the genocide taking place in Gulu, Lira, Kitgum and Apec, all regions of high Acholi concentrations ["Kolo's Conversation", New African, November 1989, p. 22-23.]. A special issue of the Teso Newsletter in Autumn 1989, also provides very up-to-date information on the genocidal activities of the current government [Teso Newsletter, Autumn 1989, no. 2, whole issue.]. In addition to being the targets of government troops' frequent attacks, the peoples of the North are also being subjected to deliberate food shortages that have already caused many deaths by starvation [Rake A. "Museveni Must Act", New African, November 1989, p. 27.]. Bombings are also a daily occurrence in the North ["Ouganda: bombardement d'une ville dans le nord", Le Monde, 17 November 1989.]. This is the most recent information we have on the Museveni government attitude and treatment of the Acholi tribe in Uganda.

2) In September 1988, Colonel Bagaza was overthrown in a bloodless coup and took refuge in Uganda, which indicates the good relations of his government with the Ugandan authorities ["Coup Was Peaceful, Burundi Leader Says", Globe and Mail, 7 September 1988, p. A5.]. All the documents consulted provided information either on the Zairian or on Rwandan refugees in Burundi (the only two significant refugee groups in Burundi). Please refer to a document attached which contains a section on "The Frustration of the Refugees in Burundi" and which covers the first half of the 1980s [CIMADE, INODEP and MINK, Africa's Refugee Crisis: What's To Be Done?, (Boulder: Zed Books, 1986), p. 109-111.]. In the absence of specific information on Ugandan refugees in Burundi in 1983 and 1984, please refer to the general situation in that period [Legum C. ed., Africa Contemporary Record 1983-1984, (New York and London: Africana, 1985), p. B87-B95.].