Attacks around Bujumbura intensify

Fighting between Burundi government forces and rebels around the capital, Bujumbura, has intensified, diplomatic sources have told IRIN. On Monday morning, rebels attacked Kanyosha, killing one government soldier and wounding three others, the Burundi army acting spokesman, Major Edouard Nibigira, told Burundi radio, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), on Monday. Ten rebels were killed, according to the spokesman.

Diplomatic sources have told IRIN that the rebels have been attacking army positions for the last three weeks. “The new development is that the rebels are now bold enough to take on the army, and fighting keeps encroaching on the capital,” a diplomatic source in Bujumbura told IRIN. The current fierce fighting is taking place a week before crucial talks between the two rebel groups and Burundi government representatives are due to open in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Meanwhile, one of the armed groups CNDD-FDD has blamed the government army for the killings which they said have erupted since the signing of the Arusha peace accord at the end of last month. A statement, issued from Brussels, said 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.