BURUNDI army and rebel groups have accused each other of launching major offensives in the run-up to ceasefire talks later this month. ”The army is launching attacks to try to recover ground before direct negotiations start,” rebel spokesman Jerome Ndiho said. ”They are also killing civilians, to scare people so they don’t shelter or give food to the FDD.” Burundi’s government called the rebel allegations ”a total fabrication”, although it admitted civilian casualties were inevitable as the army pursued and killed rebel soldiers. More than 200 000 people, most of them civilians, have died since Hutu rebels took up arms in 1993 against the minority Tutsi-dominated army of the tiny central African country. Human rights groups blame both sides for indiscriminate massacres of civilians in the last seven years. – Reuters