Government extends curfew in Bujumbura

The Burundi government on Sunday announced that it had brought forward a curfew in the capital, Bujumbura, from 8pm to 5am instead of midnight to 5am. The announcement came on the ninth day of a serious assault on the capital by the Hutu rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), which has been entrenched in the western suburb of Kinama since 24 February. The FNL on Sunday bombarded the heavily-populated, mainly Tutsi suburb of Ngagara with mortar shells, according to Reuters news agency. Many families had fled Ngagara in recent days, as thousands have fled Kinama and nearby Kamenge, the report said. UNOCHA has estimated that some 53,000 people have been displaced as a result of the most recent fighting. F ighting has continued in Bujumbura despite an announcement that the two main rebel groups [the FNL and the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie - Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD)] would be involved in face-to-face talks with the Burundi army later this week, the BBC reported on Sunday. Burundi government spokesman Luc Rukingama said the curfew in Bujumbura was extended in order to handle the movement of the population from district to district. "There are infiltrations of the rebels from northern parts of the town," Reuters quoted him as saying. Rukingama called on the public to organise self-defence units and warned that the media would be severely sanctioned if they issued false reports, betrayed military secrets or put out rebel propaganda. Meanwhile, the Ligue Iteka - a local human rights group - accused the authorities of not providing a safe corridor or other assistance had been provided for civilians trapped in the fighting in Kinama, the BBC reported.