Border still closed

After briefly reopening the border with Burundi on Saturday, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) closed it again on Sunday for "security reasons". This closure was the second in three days, Eliane Nabaa, spokeswoman for the UN Mission in the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUC, told IRIN on Monday. Security along the volatile DRC-Burundi border has been stepped up following the 13 August massacre of some 160 Congolese refugees in a UN transit camp at Gatumba, 16 km northwest of the capital, Bujumbura. Burundian authorities announced on Wednesday the reopening of their side of the border to facilitate investigations into the massacre and to enable the resumption of trade between the two countries. The Burundian rebel Forces nationals de liberation (FNL) led by Agathon Rwasa claimed responsibility for the massacre but Burundian and Rwandan officials claim that Rwandan and Congolese militias based in the DRC also participated in the attack. Nabaa said an additional 200 UN troops had been sent to the border area between the South Kivu towns of Uvira and Kamanyola. She added that helicopters we also being used to conduct aerial surveys of the border region. The spokeswoman for the UN Operation in Burundi, Isabelle Abric, told IRIN on Monday that since the massacre at the Gatumba refugee camp, the mission had been coordinating efforts to increase security in the region with its counterpart in the DRC as well as with Burundian government forces.