Much fighting reported

Humanitarian sources on Thursday told IRIN there had been a lot of fighting between Burundi’s army and rebels in different parts of the country and most recently around Bujumbura rural since the signing of the Burundi peace accord at the end of last month in Arusha. “There was a fight in Cibitoke [northwestern Burundi] between the army and rebels of FROLINA and another one in Bujumbura rural between the army and the rebels of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and some Forces de defense pour la democratie (FDD),” one independent source said. According to this source, more fighting was expected ahead of a 20 September meeting between the belligerents in Nairobi. “Armed groups are trying to get deeper into the land to say that they ‘are in control’ as the army tries to push them to the border to prove that the rebels are ‘weak’,” the source added.

Army Spokesman Colonel Longin Minani reiterated on Thursday that the government was expecting an “increase” in the attacks. “From 14 to 20 September they [rebels] will try to show they are there,” he told IRIN. “The only problem is that their target is never the military but the civilians.” He dismissed one rebel group’s claim that the army had killed hundreds of civilians as “pure lies”.

“What kind of government can kill its own civilians whom it is supposed to protect?” Recently, the rebel Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces de defense pour la democratie (CNDD-FDD) issued a statement from Brussels, saying the Tutsi-dominated army was involved in an “odious massacre” of the (largely Hutu) civil population. The statement said that more than 300 people had been killed in Bujumbura Rural, more than 150 in Rutana, and some 400 in Cankuzo.