Suffering In Burundi

Sir, - I wish to congratulate The Irish Times and your Development Correspondent, Paul Cullen, for highlighting the suffering…

Sir, - I wish to congratulate The Irish Times and your Development Correspondent, Paul Cullen, for highlighting the suffering of the people of Burundi (The Irish Times, February 13th). Burundi is indeed the most underreported of African tragedies. However, the situation of over 300,000 Burundian refugees in the camps in Western Tanzania is also a forgotten tragedy. Refugees continue to come from Burundi to Tanzania with stories of massacres and disappearances. Hundreds of children die monthly in the camps because of malaria and other diseases during our wet season. The world's attention is needed to find true justice and lasting peace and reconciliation for the people of Burundi and indeed for all the peoples of the Great Lakes. - Yours, etc.,

John K. Guiney SJ

Jesuit Refugee Service, Kakonko, Kigoma, Tanzania.