Rebel group denies firing on airliner

The rebel group, PALIPEHUTU-FNL, on Tuesday issued a statement denying having fired on the Belgian Sabena airliner, Sabena, on Monday night from the Rukoko natural reserve, west of the capital near Bujumbura International Airport, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Tuesday. “We did not shoot [at] the plane,” it quoted the FNL secretary-general, Paul Ndiriraha, as saying. “First of all, we would like to inform you that the Burundi government distributed arms among the people everywhere in the country,” he said. “When they do it, they think we shall be accused although there are no writings on bullets to show that they come from PALIPEHUTU or any other group,” Ndiriraha added.

He warned that the group was “about to increase fighting in the country, because the government was doing the same”. He explained, however, that it was not because the group wanted to fight more than it had already been doing, but “because the war has to continue as it was planned.” He said:

“We would like to inform you that we are aware that the Burundi government is planning to carry out killings, to do bad things to foreigners, as it did with employees of the Red Cross in Muzye and Cibitoke and claimed that we were responsible for it. They have realised that they will achieve nothing and that is why they want to do everything possible so that foreigners support them and claim that we are responsible for it so as to get foreign assistance.” A Sabena airliner carrying some 82 passengers was shot at on Monday night as it prepared to land at the Bujumbura airport. A flight attendant and a passenger on the plane were slightly injured.