Hundreds of hectares of forest up in smoke

A week-long fire, which has razed 700 ha of the Kibira forest, in northwestern Burundi, was started by rebels who have been using the area as a stronghold for its attacks on government troops, news sources who have just visited the area said.

People living around the forest have been trying to extinguish the blaze, but had not ventured "deep inside", an environmentalist said, because they were afraid of whom they might meet.

Kibira, the country's largest forest, covers around 40,000 ha and extends over 80 km. It is an extension of the Rwandan Nyungwe forest. Before the advent of the political crisis which plunged Burundi into civil war in 1993, forests represented 7 percent to 8 percent of the country's total area.

"Due to the crisis, they now represent about 6 percent, Cyriaque Nzojibwami, of the Burundi National Institute for the Conservation of Nature, told IRIN.

Logging has contributed to reducing the forest. Kibira is an important water catchment area and, Nzojibwami said, "three quarters of Burundi's rivers originate from the forest". Moreover, the nation's hydroelectric power station is located in the Kibira forest, which is rich in biodiversity and protects the surrounding regions against erosion.