WFP begins food distribution to 15,000 IDPs

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) began on Monday distributing food aid to an estimated 15,000 internally displaced Burundians in Mubimbi Commune, Bujumbura Rural Province, an official told IRIN on Monday. WFP official Isidore Nteturuye said the agency would provide a total of 58 mt of food to the displaced over seven days. The displaced fled rebel fighting in Burundi's western province of Bubanza. The food aid follows an assessment by a team comprising representatives of UN humanitarian agencies to Bubanza, following reports that civilians had fled their homes. Fighting broke out in Bubanza on 6 September between Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) rebels, displacing thousands of civilians, local officials told IRIN on Tuesday. The governor of Bujumbura Rural, Ignace Ntawembarira, said most of the displaced were at the compound of the Mubimbi communal office. Nteturuye told IRIN that there was still fighting, and that some locations in Bubanza and Bujumbura Rural provinces were "still hot". Nteturuye added that WFP staff who went to Mubimbi were monitoring the emergency food distribution. On Friday, UN News reported that the UN office in Burundi was looking into reports that 17 civilians, including 14 children, were killed last week in Cibitoke province, 40 km east of the capital Bujumbura. Humanitarian personnel have limited access to the area due to instability. At the same time, the South African government has condemned the Cibitoke attack. A statement issued on Saturday by the Department of Foreign Affairs, said South Africa was outraged by the "callous murder of defenceless and unarmed civilians, including children, by unidentified gunmen". The South African government urged all parties involved in the Burundi conflict to act with restraint and to adhere to the terms of ceasefire agreements signed in 2002 between the transitional government of Burundi and rebel groups. It said it was optimistic that the challenges facing the country would be discussed at a regional summit on Burundi due to begin Monday in the Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. "We again call on all parties to remain committed to the ends of peace, security and stability in order to halt such attacks," South Africa said.