The exiled leader of Burundi’s last rebel group returned to the capital, Bujumbura, on Friday to begin implementing a stalled deal seen as the final obstacle to peace in the tiny Central African country. Agathon Rwasa, leader of the Forces for National Liberation, arrived at Bujumbura airport for talks between his ethnic Hutu group and Burundi’s mixed but Hutu-led government.
Burundi’s army battled rebels for a third day running on Saturday, in clashes that have killed 20 fighters and six soldiers, a military spokesperson said. In some of the worst fighting in months, military helicopters were deployed to the outskirts of the capital, Bujumbura, on Friday against the rebel Forces for National Liberation.
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/ 4 September 2007
At least 20 Burundi fighters were killed on Tuesday in heavy clashes between two rival rebel factions that sent scores of residents fleeing the capital’s northern suburbs. Machine gunfire and explosions shattered the air as insurgents opposed to Agathon Rwasa, the leader of the rebel Forces for National Liberation, battled fighters loyal to him.
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/ 23 January 2007
The powerful chairperson of Burundi’s ruling party said on Tuesday he had spent the night in the South African embassy, fearing for his safety after his police bodyguards were changed unexpectedly as he faces growing discontent. Hussein Radjabu’s ruling Hutu CNDD-FDD party faces mounting criticism in the tiny Central African nation.
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/ 11 September 2006
Burundi’s last rebel fighters are respecting a ceasefire with the government, but the Central African nation needs to move quickly to demobilise and integrate them for lasting stability, an army spokesperson said on Monday. The government signed a full ceasefire with the Forces for National Liberation last Thursday.
Burundi said on Wednesday it has strong evidence that former high-ranking politicians and a dissident rebel leader arrested this week planned to kill President Pierre Nkurunziza and overthrow the government. Government spokesperson Karenga Ramadhani told a local radio station a coup was planned for June 30.