Burundi rebels attack refugee transit centre

Members of the Burundi rebel CNDD-FDD on Thursday night (8 February) attacked Kigadye refugee transit centre in Kisutu District, Kigoma Region, in the west of the country, killing one man and kidnapping 36 others in an attempt to force them to join the rebel movement, according to police in Tanzania. Kigoma Regional Police Commissioner Boniface Mgongolwa, quoted by local and international news organisations, said 24 of those kidnapped later escaped and made their way back to Kigadye. The escapees told Tanzanian police that the kidnappers had wanted them to join the FDD in its rebellion against the government of Burundi President Pierre Buyoya. The man killed, identified only as Bururwikiye, was shot seven times in the back at Duhwekipanga along the Tanzanian-Burundian border for refused to cooperate with the rebels, Mgongolwa said. The facilitator of the Burundi peace process, Nelson Mandela, is due to visit Burundi refugee camps in Kigoma on 28 February, follow a meeting of leaders from the Great Lakes region in the northern town of Arusha on 26 and 27 February, according to the Internews press service. Rebel attacks inside Burundi have intensified despite Mandela and the South African governments' efforts to mediate a ceasefire agreement, and bring the CNDD-FDD and PALIPEHUTU-FNL rebel groups into the Arusha peace process.