Burundi Army Claims Killings of Rebels
By ALOYS NIYOYITA
.c The Associated Press
BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) - Hutu rebels and the Tutsi-dominated army clashed in
eastern Burundi on Tuesday, the first major violation of a month-old
cease-fire.
The army claimed 16 rebels were killed and 52 captured, but the rebel Forces
for the Defense of Democracy denied the claim.
The fighting, which erupted near the border with Tanzania, was just the
latest violence in a nine-year civil war in this tiny central African nation,
which has killed more than 200,000 people, mostly civilians.
Fighting began when soldiers spotted rebels crossing the border from Tanzania
some 135 miles east of Bujumbura, said army spokesman Capt. Adolphe
Manirakiza. The government has accused the rebels of using Tanzania as a base
to launch attacks into Burundi. Manirakiza said the army opened fire and the
fighting was continuing.
Rebel spokesman Gelase Ndabirabe confirmed that there was fierce fighting,
but said no rebels were killed or captured.
He charged that the military's real goal behind the latest clash was to
prevent Western diplomats from visiting rebel held areas. The envoys were to
discuss distributing food to the insurgents and other issues concerning the
cease-fire agreement which was signed Dec. 2.
The fighting had died down since the signing, and donor nations have agreed
to support the cease-fire by providing food to the rebels to deter them from
attacking villages for food.
The war in Burundi broke out in October 1993 after paratroopers from the
Tutsi minority assassinated the country's first democratically elected
president, a Hutu. Tutsis have effectively controlled Burundi for all but a
few months since independence from Belgium in 1962.
The transitional administration, led by President Pierre Buyoya, was
inaugurated in November 2001 after Hutu and Tutsi parties signed a
power-sharing accord that was supposed to end the war. But the rebels refused
to take part in that peace process and fighting continued.
01/07/03 20:28 EST
