The Titanic Express massacre took place on 28 December 2000, when 21 people were killed in an attack on a ''Titanic Express'' bus close to Bujumbura (then the capital of

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

). The passengers, who had traveled from

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

, were robbed of their valuables and then separated according to their ethnicity. Hutus and most Congolese were released unharmed. The Tutsis on board, and one British woman, Charlotte Wilson, who was traveling with her Burundian fiancé, were forced to lie face down on the ground and then shot. According to news reports, one of the Hutu passengers had been told to "tell the army we're going to kill them all and there's nothing you can do." The attack took place in the province of Bujumbura Rural, a stronghold of the Hutu-extremist group Palipehutu-FNL (commonly known as FNL). The group is known for its hostility to the Tutsi ethnic group, and is believed to have carried out dozens of similar attacks in the same area. Although the FNL has denied responsibility for the "Titanic Express" attack, the Burundian authorities and a number of human rights groups have publicly blamed them for the massacre. In May 2001, the International Crisis Group attributed the Titanic Express attack to "troops under the order of... Agathon Rwasa". In January 2004, the ''Sunday Times'' announced the discovery of a document which appears to be an FNL report, signed by a senior commander, detailing how the Titanic Express massacre was carried out. In June 2006, detailed eyewitness accounts of the attack were published in the book ''Titanic Express: Finding Answers in the Aftermath of Terror'', by Richard Wilson, the brother of Charlotte Wilson.

References

External links

The Guardian - "Murders in Burundi 'war crimes' says dead aid worker's family", 2 January 2001

International - "Between Hope and Fear", March 2001

In Burundi - "TITANIC TROIS ANS DEJA", 28 December 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Titanic Express Massacre Massacres of ethnic groups Massacres in Burundi 20th-century mass murder in Africa 2000 in Burundi December 2000 in Africa Burundian Civil War Tutsi Massacres in 2000 Discrimination in Burundi 2000 mass shootings in Africa Deaths by firearm in Burundi History of Bujumbura Terrorist incidents in Africa in 2000 2000 murders in Africa Terrorist incidents on buses in Africa 2000 road incidents December 2000 crimes in Africa

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Further reading

External links