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Article: TUTSI ARMY AIMS TO MAKE A MINORITY LOOK LIKE MAJORITY AFTER TAKEOVER, THE HOPE IS THAT BURUNDI'S HUTUS WON'T NOTICE THEIR OWN STRENGTH.(News/National/International)
- Article from:
- Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
- Article date:
- July 27, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Rocky Mountain News. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Dialog LLC by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Nicholas Kotch Reuter
NAIROBI, Kenya -- The army that seized power in Burundi this week is a highly motivated ethnic corps whose central, if unstated, mission is to protect the Tutsi minority from annihilation.
``Don't think of it as a typical army,'' a Tutsi journalist in Bujumbura said recently. ``Think of it as the Tutsi Extermination Deterrent Force.''
The defensive spirit that has pervaded the army for decades was strengthened when extremist Hutus in power in neighboring Rwanda carried out a systematic genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus from April to June 1994. An estimated 1 million people were slain.
Foreign military ...