Security “not worse than other times”

Security authorities in Burundi have said that the current insecurity reported in the country is “not worse than other times”. “It is the usual attacks that the rebels launch from time to time,” army spokesman Colonel Augustin Nzabampema told IRIN on Thursday. He said that the army was doing its best to flash out the rebels from their “strongholds”, the latest operations being in Gatarara, Isale commune and the Bujumbura-Rural, western Burundi as a whole. The independent Radio Publique Africaine reported on Wednesday that fighting between the rebels and the army was continuing in Kanyosha and Isale communes in Bujumbura-Rural. It said that the provisional death toll was nine. Two soldiers and two women were among the dead. It said that the fighting had led to thousands of people being displaced at the Muyira headquarters. It described the fighting as “intense” and involved use of artillery by both sides. Last week, 57 people were injured and four killed after a grenade exploded at a crowded market in Kinama, northeast of Bujumbura. Three people were also injured in another grenade attack in Rohero II near the University of Burundi after assailants threw a grenade at the home of an Asian businessman. Government officials contacted by IRIN also said that there was an increase in the rate of armed robberies in the country. “The targets are not only organisations or office premises, but civilians too,” he noted. Meanwhile, four people died and several other injured on Tuesday night near Nyengwe on the border between Bururi, southwestern Burundi and Makamba, southern Burundi on Lake Tanganyika after rebels fired from anti-tank rockets at a Tanzanian boat, the Muongozo, local Bonesha radio quoted sources as saying. The boat which had left Bujumbura port for Kigoma, Tanzania, sails between Bujumbura, Kigoma, Karagwe [the two places in Tanzania] and Mpulungu [Zambia]. It was transporting goods and passengers. The attack was attributed to rebels from Ubwari island in the DRC. Rebels of the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD), those of the Forces nationales pour la liberation (FNL) and the Congolese Mayi Mayi tribal warriors reside in this area.