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Navy reportedly sinks rebel boat with 50 aboard

    NAIROBI

    Fifty rebels were reportedly killed in Burundi on Wednesday when the navy sank a boat they were traveling in on Lake Tanganyika near the port town of Nyanza-lac in southwest Burundi, army spokesman Col Augustin Nzabampema told AFP on Friday. "A military vessel attacked two rebel boats, one was sunk with the crew and rebels it was carrying, while the second managed to escape to Ubwari, a lake island in the DRC," AFP quoted Nzabampema as saying. The island is allegedly used as a haven by Burundian rebels of the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD).

    Because of security concerns, fishing has been banned since Wednesday in Burundian waters of Lake Tanganyika. "Rebels were stepping up attacks on civilian boats, they even attacked a Tanzanian boat. It is hard to tell the fishing boats from the rebel boats," Nzabampema was quoted by AFP as saying.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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