Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Burundi rebels shell capital, kill at least three
10 Nov 2003 10:20:21 GMT
BUJUMBURA, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Burundian Hutu rebels fired mortars and grenades at the capital Bujumbura on Sunday night, killing at least three people, army and rebel officials said.

The attack by the Forces for National Liberation's (FNL) rebels on the northern and eastern suburbs of Bujumbura came after government troops shot dead four people while scouring an FNL stronghold for rebel fighters on Sunday.

"The FNL rebels infiltrated the northern suburb of Kamenge and threw grenades. Three people were killed including a young girl," army spokesman Augustin Nzabampema told Reuters.

However, residents in Kamenge and the eastern suburb of Kiriri said they saw five dead.

Nzabampena said two houses had been burned and the residence of China's ambassador to Burundi hit by the shelling.

The FNL has denounced a deal between the government and another rebel faction aimed at ending the country's 10 year civil war which has killed 300,000 people. Last week it warned that fresh fighting could break out near Bujumbura at any time.

The decade long war has seen rebels from the Hutu majority fighting to end the traditional political and military dominance of minority Tutsis.

The main Hutu rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), is set to join the government and start taking up army posts in the next three weeks under a peace deal signed in Pretoria earlier this month.

"There's been a powerful deployment of army troops and FDD in Bujumbura Rural (an FNL stronghold) for a week. The FDD has agreed with the army that they are going to chase us," said FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana.

"Since we don't have any other means of expression we took the option of bombarding the capital. It's our only way of being heard," he said.

Analysts say with FDD and the army joining forces, chances of defeating FNL, the second biggest rebel group, have risen.

Leaders from countries including South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania are expected in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Friday to endorse the latest phase of the deal to end the war.


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

NGO latest

•  MAG Burundi - November report
MAG - UK

•  New NRC Report: Climate Changed: People Displaced
NRC

•  Geneva: canton pledges support for victims of "forgotten conflicts"
ICRC - Switzerland

•  Maggy Barankitse wins The Guardian's Achievement in International Development Award
ActionAid

•  MAG Burundi report - October
MAG - UK

MORE >>

Latest news

•  EU plans 230 mln euro aid for Africa and Caribbean

•  Analysis: Worrying split among former Burundi rebels

•  Burundi: Stop Deporting Rwandan Asylum Seekers

•  Kenya seizes tonne of ivory, arrests 65 in major op

•  AFRICA: The universal access hit parade

MORE >>

Background information

Facts & figures
Burundi

Related articles

Breaking stories
 EU plans 230 mln euro aid for Africa and Caribbean (1 minute ago)

Analysis: Worrying split among former Burundi rebels (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 AU set to endorse landmark treaty to protect continent's displaced millions (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 MAG Burundi - November report (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Fleeing from genocide in Burundi (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Global projected land use changes, 1700-2050 (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-12-16T142711Z_01_PHW15_RTRIDSP_2_FRANCE-CLIMATE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PHW15.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-12-05T104017Z_01_DJI04_RTRIDSP_2_DJIBOUTI_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DJI04.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-12-05T103826Z_01_DJI07_RTRIDSP_2_DJIBOUTI_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DJI07.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-12-05T103544Z_01_DJI06_RTRIDSP_2_DJIBOUTI_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DJI06.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-12-05T103314Z_01_DJI05_RTRIDSP_2_DJIBOUTI_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DJI05.htm

France's Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo (L), Cameroon's President Paul Biya (2ndL), Central African President Francois Bozize (3rd L), Burundi Vice-President Yves Sahinguvu (4th L), President Nicolas Sarkozy (5th L), Congolese President ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Fri Dec 18 16:53:53 2009