The Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the outline of the case of Mr. Norbert Ndihokubwayo of Burundi, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/171/12(a)­R.1), and to the relevant resolution adopted at its 170th session (March 2002),

Taking account of the information provided by Mr. Ndihokubwayo at the hearing held on the occasion of the Special Session of the Council (September 2002), in which he participated as a member of the Burundian delegation,

Recalling that attempts were made on Mr. Ndihokubwayo's life in 1994 and 1995, causing him to go into exile shortly thereafter; following the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, all MPs in exile were invited to return to the country to assume their duties in the new Transitional National Assembly, and that as a result Mr. Ndihokubwayo returned to Burundi in late December 2001 and has resumed his parliamentary duties,

Considering that, upon inquiry regarding his case with the competent authorities, it transpired that the investigation file concerning him in the Prosecutor General's Office had disappeared; recalling that, according to information provided earlier, one of the persons who fired at him reportedly obtained a passport issued by the immigration services of the Government under a false name and has sought asylum in the Netherlands,

Considering that the President of the Transitional National Assembly has agreed to the setting up of a small group of MPs whose mandate would, in close cooperation with the Prosecutor General's Office and the Minister for Human Rights and Relations with the Transitional National Assembly, include looking into Mr. Ndihokubayo's case in order to establish responsibility for the attacks against him,

1. Thanks Mr. Ndihokubwayo and, through him, the authorities for the information supplied and for their stated commitment to ensuring that justice is done in this case;

2. Notes with satisfaction the steps taken to this end, in particular the setting up of a small parliamentary group, and wishes to be kept informed of its work;

3. Once more urges the authorities to investigate the allegation that one of Mr. Ndihokubwayo's attackers was provided with a false passport;

4. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the competent authorities;

5. 5. Requests the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session (April 2003).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the Special Session of the Council and related meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union" in PDF format (file size approximately 534K). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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