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.
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