Burundian rebels kill 19 civilians

Burundian rebels killed at least 19 rural folk on Wednesday in Kiliba, South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A survivor of the incident, told the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) that Hutu rebels of the Forces mationales de liberation (FNL) had kidnapped 20 people while they were harvesting rice in Rukoko - close to the Burundian border - demanding a ransom of US $100 for each. He had witnessed a total of 19 of the peasants being killed, he said, before he managed to escape. The rebel group governing the area, the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), told MONUC that 30 people had been killed in the incident. "We received the information on Thursday from officials of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie, who gave us this figure. They accused the Hutu rebels of the FNL, a Burundian rebel movement," Hamadoun Toure, the MONUC spokesman, told IRIN.