More than 70 000 people have fled their homes in central Burundi to escape fighting between the army and forces from one of two main rebel groups, local officials said on Tuesday.
Fighting broke out last Friday between the Tutsi-dominated army and fighters from the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), on the same day that the government began talks with Hutu rebels on a
possible peace accord.
Nearly all of the estimated 45 000 inhabitants of Bugendana have fled and regrouped outside the town, according to Tharcisse Ntibarirarana, governor of the surrounding Gitega province.
”Since this morning it’s been fairly calm, whereas yesterday there were clashes between the army and rebels all afternoon,” the governor said on Tuesday.
No civilians had been killed, he added.
”People got the message and fled as soon as the rebels arrived in the area.” Sylvain Nzigamiye, the governor of neighbouring Muranvya province, said the 26 000 residents of Rutegama left the town on Tuesday morning as rebels arrived to find ”large numbers” of
government troops waiting for them.
Army representative Augustin Nzabampema confirmed that the clashes had taken place but gave no information on their outcome or casualties.
The rebels are understood to be on the retreat, heading for the FDD’s Kibira forest stronghold in the country’s centre west.
Fifty-one rebels and 10 civilians were reported killed in the northern province of Cibitoke in clashes with the army last Saturday.
Peace talks between the government and FDD in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, have made no progress after three days, a member of the Burundi delegation said on Tuesday.
”We’re still on the introduction to the ceasefire plan,” the government delegate said on condition of anonymity. ”We have not been able to agree on the first two articles.”
Burundi’s second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), has so far refused to join the talks. Inter-ethnic clashes descended into a full civil war following the 1993 assassination of Burundi’s elected Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye.
The war has claimed the lives of more than 250 000 people, most of them civilians. – Sapa-AFP