Rwanda: January 19, 2000

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Nelson Mandela, who agreed last week to become the chief mediator in Burundi's civil war, said that all parties "share blame" for the estimated 200,000 people who have died since the war started in 1993. Mandela's presence has clearly given the negotiations diplomatic weight. dead. On January 16 he criticized the Burundian governments "regroupement" policy (what FYEO has called concentration camps). On January 19, the Burdundian government said it would close 10 of the camps "soon." The UNHCR says 330,000 people are currently in 53 camps (most of them around the capital, Bujumbura).