Fighting continues in Bujumbura-Rural

Fighting was still going on Monday between Burundi army and rebels of the Forces nationale de liberation (FNL) in Nyambuye, an area within Bujumbura-Rural, adjacent to the Burundi capital Bujumbura, sources confirmed to IRIN on Monday. The fighting, which started on Monday 11 March, had displaced approximately 10,000 people, who fled the hills surrounding the capital, Burundi Army spokesman Augustin Nzabampema told IRIN. "The battle was not so serious, but people fled because they heard gunfire and got scared. Calm is slowly returning in the area," he said. Burundi Radio Publique Africaine reported on Thursday, 14 March, that people had fled the hills after hearing automatic and heavy gunfire, which they said had come from Nyambuye and Sesaka military positions. Nzabampema also confirmed that two soldiers were killed on Friday in an ambush by FNL rebels at Burima, also near Nyambuye. "They were walking from Nyambuye to Bujumbura to get their food," he said. According to the FNL, however, its forces are not fighting government soldiers. "Government soldiers are just aiming at places where many civilians are living, where they throw bombs. It is very intentional," FNL spokesman Anicet Ntawuhiganayo told IRIN on Monday. "They are using very heavy artillery. Some three to four houses in Mutambu [south of Bujumbura] fell victims, and about 17 to 20 civilians, mainly women and children died as a result," he added. He said FNL "was avoiding" getting involved in the confrontation with government soldiers, and was "continuing its struggle for liberation of the country". Information from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Burundi indicated that there are some 5,000 displaced families in Kabezi District, south of Bujumbura, as a whole. Some 3,000 to 3,500 of these families have been in Mutumba (south of Bujumbura) for the last four to five weeks, while another 1,500 families fled to Mubone (north of Bujumbura) and Kabezi town in the past 10 days, it said. Some 1,000 other displaced families are in Mutambu in Karinzi District, south of Bujumbura, according to OCHA. Despite the establishment of a transitional government in Burundi on 1 November last, sporadic fighting between government forces and rebels has continued in different parts of the country.