Coup In Burundi

BUJUMBURA, Burundi: The Central African country of Burundi has a bloody three year old civil war between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes climaxed yesterday with a military coup as the Tutsis, who control the military, took over the government. Today, in a radio broadcast to the nation, the new Tutsi President Pierre Buyoya, freshly-installed by the army, demanded that the international community respond to the coup as an action of salvation intended to stop Burundi's "descent into hell." The new military regime, Buyoya said, would bring a quick end to the massacres and "criminality." Meanwhile, President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, who headed a Tutsi-Hutu coalition government until Tuesday, remains holed up in the U.S embassy. The Organization of African Unity and the United Nations both rejected any Burundian government put in place by force. "A coup d'tat will not solve any of Burundi's problems and is only likely to intensify violence on all sides," said U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. "The Tutsis are now prepared to enforce a military dictatorship," says TIME's Bruce Nelan. "That is the probably the only way they can stay in power, since Tutsis make up about 12 percent of the population. The situation is extremely unstable, and raises the possibility of Tutsi retribution, a Hutu uprising and civil war." -->