NGO robbed at gunpoint in Bujumbura

Eight staff members of international relief NGO Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) were robbed at gunpoint on Sunday in their homes in the Gatoke suburb of Bujumbura, capital of Burundi. No one was seriously wounded. The assailants stole some US $20,000 in cash and other valuables such as a computer, mobile phones and an airline ticket. JRS said the six men, aged 20-40 years, were all in civilian cloths and were wielding pistols and a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Speaking in French and English, they threatened to kill JRS country representative Father Pierre Vincent de Marcillac, and demanded that JRS staff hand over all their money and valuables. Then the gang locked six of the JRS staff in a bathroom, forcing de Marcillac and another expatriate staff member to drive them to the JRS office, some 2 km away, in order to access the NGO's safe. On 9 August, another international NGO, Action Against Hunger, temporarily evacuated its expatriate staff from Kayanza Province, northern Burundi, after gunmen stormed one of their homes stealing computers, communications equipment, radios and vehicles. Nevertheless, ACF said it would continue its nutritional and food security programmes in the region. The estimated 20 robbers overpowered four guards and burst into the ACF house without firing a shot, although gunfire of undetermined origin was reported as they fled.