Relief yet to reach thousands displaced by fighting

Thousands of people who have fled their homes since fighting began last week between the Burundian army and rebels have not yet received humanitarian aid, but the UN Office for he Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will soon investigate their situation, according to an OCHA official.

Burundi’s Radio Publique Africain reported on Monday that about 20,000 people had fled from Kabezi Commune, Bujumbura-Rural Province, to escape the fighting between the army and a hardline rebel group, the Force national de liberation. The Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday that about 3,000 people had “poured into Bujumbura” on Monday.

"The figures for displaced persons who fled the fighting are not accurate yet," the OCHA official told IRIN on Thursday, "but there is a lot of movement."

OCHA is planning to dispatch an assessment mission on Friday to Bujumbura Rural, the countryside immediately surrounding the capital. The radio station reported that the fighting was taking place on the hills of Masama, Gitenge, Mwaza and Kiremba in Kabezi Commune. AP added on Wednesday that some of the fighting was taking place in the village of Isare, some 15 km north of Bujumbura.

Residents had fled the area to enable government forces gain access to dislodge the combatants; the radio station quoted the Kabezi communal administrator, Emmanuel Baragigiye, as saying. It said a committee had been formed to register the displaced, thereby to help the humanitarian organisations.