PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
18th Anniversary of the attacks on Gatumba (6 September 2022)

That this House notes with great sadness that it is now 18 years since the night of August 13-14, 2004, when 166 Banyamulenge were murdered, 106 were wounded, and 8 went missing in the refugee camp in Gatumba, Burundi, the majority of whom were children and women; regrets that the attack occurred even though the camp was under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; calls on the UK government to assist the governments of Burundi, the DRC, and other countries in the sub-region to cooperate in the restoration of peace, including the rehabilitation of the victims; further calls on the government of the DRC to stop the attacks against the civilian Banyamulenge and provide assistance to the hundreds of thousands of displaced people living in precarious conditions in Minembwe, Mikenge, Bijombo and Bwegera; asks the Government to use its position on the United Nations Security Council to ensure the international community upholds the promise of justice made to the victims of Gatumba; urges the United Nations to use all appropriate means at its disposal to bring the perpetrators to justice; and further asks that the UN become directly involved in stopping the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Banyamulenge in South Kivu highlands, and take whatever measures necessary to see that the sponsors and perpetrators of the killings are identified and brought to justice.

Sponsored by:
Emma Hardy (Labour)