Tension abates in northern Bujumbura suburbs

Tension eased somewhat on Thursday in the northern Bujumbura suburbs of Kamenge and Kinama two days after security started combing the areas for anti-government rebels who might have infiltrated the capital. On Tuesday security forces sealed off Kamenge, a mainly Hutu neighbourhood, after receiving reports of the possible infiltration of rival Hutu rebel forces - the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) faction loyal to Agathon Rwasa and those of Pierre Nkurunziza's faction of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD). Troops checking identity papers of all Kamenge residents arrested 36 people, the administrator of the suburb, Mathias Barimwabo, told IRIN. They were taken to the Gendarmerie Special Bureau of Investigation, he added. Barimwabo, who oversaw the operation by local administrative officials and gendarmes, said he had received reports from local residents of possible infiltrations of rebels. The screening of residents was intended to pre-empt this. Similar measures have been taken in the city's southern suburb of Kanyosha, and in Cibitoke, which has mostly Tutsi inhabitants. Nevertheless, Kamenge residents complained that the screening was another form of harassment. But Barimwabo said residents had asked for tighter controls on movement because previous rebel incursions into their neighbourhood had sparked fighting and displacements. Rumours that fighting might again break out between the FNL and CNDD has been fuelled by reports that some residents have received death threats. In the neighboring suburb of Kinama, residents have been living in a permanent state of fear since the FNL and CNDD clashes started three weeks ago. Some residents of Kinama told IRIN they had not spent a single night at home. However, Kinama administrator Jean Berchmans Nsabimana told IRIN that the situation had improved following the declaration of a curfew.