Rebel attack puts 2,000 to flight

At least 2,000 people fled their homes in the Mubone zone in Bujumbura Rural Province on Tuesday during fighting between Hutu rebels and government troops, news reports and humanitarian sources said. Radio Publique Africaine reported that the residents of Mubone fled to Ruziba, Mutambu and Kabezi when rebels of the Forces nationales de liberation attacked a government position there. The fighting interrupted a polio immunisation effort in the zone. However, health teams followed fleeing residents and continued the vaccinations in the places of refuge, OCHA reported. In another development, the Burundi human rights body, Iteka, reported that close to 1,000 Congolese Banyamulenge refugees whose thatched homes were burnt in Rugombo, Cibitoke Province, last week were still without shelter. Iteka said that only churches had, so far, provided aid to this community. The cause of the fire had not yet been established.