Government denies further MISNA claims

The Burundi government has protested against further “tendentious” reporting by the missionary news agency MISNA. In a statement sent to IRIN on Monday, the government said MISNA alleged the army was chasing people from Bujumbura to “an unknown destination”. The statement reiterated the government’s policy was to place people in protective sites while the army flushed out rebels from Bujumbura Rural province. It said the regrouped people were escorted by the authorities to tend their fields during the daytime, and were not being led towards an “unknown destination”. However, some villagers, “in an uncontrolled way”, had gone to join groups of former displaced people in eastern parts of the capital, notably in the Legentil camp,” the statement added.