Insecurity high across the country

A high level of insecurity was persisting in Burundi, with several attacks and ambushes in different parts of the country, a humanitarian source told IRIN on Wednesday. Six people were killed and three cars burnt out in an attack in Gatumba area last week, while several ambushes and attacks were also reported in Gitega and Ruyigi provinces, he said. Clashes between the
Burundi army and Hutu rebels in the southeastern province of Makamba in the southeast were continuing, with the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the area having risen to 38,000, he added. Meanwhile, UN officials recently assessed two more sites, Kigezi and Mageyo, set to be dismantled in phase II of a government programme in areas. A UN official said that, in Kigezi, some 1,100 people out of a population of 4,770 had
returned to their homes in the collines of Rutegama and Mubare. He noted that the population in Mageyo had no access to their fields due to insecurity, and that rebels were frequently looting food and non-food items.