U.N. condemns Burundi massacre

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council Sunday said it "condemns with the utmost firmness" the massacre of more than 150 Congolese refugees in Burundi two nights earlier.

The 15 member panel was called into emergency consultations Sunday evening to discuss the massacre Friday night and Saturday morning of mostly Tutsi women and children refugees from fighting in the eastern Congo staying in a temporary camp in western Burundi, Gatumba, about 10 miles northwest of the capital of Bujumbura.

The closed-door council session, requested by France, lasted about 90 minutes. Then, Ambassador Andrei Denisov, of Russia, president of the council for August, read aloud the statement in the council's formal chamber.

"The Security Council condemns with the utmost firmness the massacre of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo which occurred on the territory of Burundi," the statement said.

It also called for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representatives in Burundi and Congo "to establish the facts and report on them to the council as quickly as possible."