9,200 displaced by recent fighting

Burundian military and UN aid agency sources have told IRIN that 9,200 people in Muzinda, Rugazi commune, have been displaced by fighting that started 3 October between loyalist and anti-government forces in Bubanza Province. An humanitarian aid official said the displaced had moved close to a military post in Mpada Commune, about 20 km north of Bujumbura, the capital, for greater protection. The official added that 1,026 families (approximately 5,100 individuals) of the displaced have been living in this state since 1 March and "are destitute, because their houses have been burnt and looted". Military spokesman Colonel Augustin Nzabampema said the administrator of Rugazi Commune, Felicien Ntahorwamira, had appealed for blankets, food, sheeting and medicines. Humanitarian sources said there had been no population displacements reported so far in Kanyosha and Nyabiraba, Bujumbura Rural Province, southeast of the capital.