FNL intensifies attacks as peace talks go on

Despite ongoing peace talks between the government of Burundi and the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), the country's remaining rebel group, FNL fighters have intensified attacks against civilians in the western province of Bubanza, killing one person and abducting four others in the latest incident. Army officials said on Thursday in the capital, Bujumbura, four people were wounded in the attack on Tuesday at Bitare in the commune of Musigati, in Bubanza. "Heavy fighting between army soldiers and FNL rebels is still reported in Musigati, especially at Dondi," Pascal Nyabenda, the provincial governor, said on Thursday. Nyabenda said the army had been conducting operations to separate the rebels from civilians. He said dozens of families in Dondi had fled their homes following the fighting. "They have sought refuge at their neighbours' homes where relative security is reported," Nyabenda added. "We had not had such attacks in the last two months," he said, "even when they occurred, the rebels would not kill but would loot money, foodstuffs and other household properties, and would go back to the Kibira Forest." In another attack on Tuesday, rebels fired five mortar shells at Gihosha and Mutanga Nord residential areas in Bujumbura, wounding one person, the military said. Several homes and vehicles were also destroyed. On Thursday, army spokesman Maj Adolphe Manirakiza blamed all the attacks on the FNL, whose strongholds are in the provinces of Bubanza and Bujubura Rural, which surrounds the capital. He said the shells were launched from Gicaca, an area in the hills bordering the urban commune of Gihosha. "Our forces retaliated in an effort to prevent rebels from continuing to launch bombs," Manirakiza said. A resident of Gihosha, Jérôme Ndiho, said: "I heard gospel songs [FNL rebels generally sing gospel songs during attacks] from the hills making the border with Gihosha during the attack. We were too frightened; we did not know where to go because we could not figure out where a bomb might come from." Ndiho said spent cartridges were found in his compound on Wednesday. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bujumbura said on Thursday it had not yet received any reports of displaced civilians, either from Bubanza or Bujumbura Rural. The attacks occurred as the FNL, led by Agathon Rwasa, and the government began peace talks in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, under the facilitation of the South African government. Manirakiza said the FNL was carrying out the attacks to show that it still exists. "As long as there is no agreement between both sides [Burundi government and the FNL], we will continue to track FNL rebels down wherever they are, in a bid to protect the population," he said. However, FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana said on Tuesday that the FNL was no longer fighting. "Our fighters have retreated to Kibira Forest," he said. "The FNL has decided on a unilateral truce in order not to jeopardise the outcomes of the negotiations." A political analyst, Charles Ndayiziga, who heads a civic organisation known as the Centre National d'Alerte et de Prévention de Conflit (CENAP), said the increase in FNL attacks had three main objectives. Coming at the start of the peace talks, he said, they were aimed at showing the public that the FNL was still strong and capable of disrupting security. The second objective, he said, was to pressure the ruling party, the Conseil national de la défense de la démocratie-Forces de défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) of President Pierre Nkurunziza, "to accept the FNL claims by force". Thirdly, Ndayiziga said, the FNL wanted to pressure the population to tell the government that "they are tired of the war, and that it is high time for the government to negotiate with the FNL". He said the attacks were also aimed at showing the international community that FNL rebels were still strong on the battlefield. The other FNL faction, led by Jean Bosco Sindayigaya, stopped fighting in January.