Thousands of panic-stricken Bujumbura residents home again

Thousands of panic-stricken residents who fled from northern Bujumbura on Tuesday during fighting between the army and anti-government forces have returned to their homes, the army spokesman, Col Augustin Nzampemba, told IRIN.

"We convinced them that there was no need to panic," he said.

He said a group of rebel Front national de liberation (FNL) fighters had exchanged fire with the army in the capital's northern suburbs of Kinama and Kamenge, prompting panic-stricken residents to flee. The Associated Press reported that the clash occurred when the rebels attacked two army positions some 15 km north of the city centre.

Nzampemba said six civilians were wounded, two of them seriously, when rebel rockets landed in the suburb of Buyenzi, but "now the situation is calm".

Despite numerous attacks on the fringes of the city over months, the Hutu rebels have never managed to reach the city centre. They have continued fighting despite the installation in November 2001 of a transitional government in which Hutus and Tutsis share power.

Burundi has been in a state of civil war ever since 1993, in the course of which tens of thousands of people have died. The FNL and another Hutu rebel group - the Forces pour le defence de democracy - were not signatories to an agreement signed in Arusha, which ushered in the present government.