Amid this chaotic situation in Burundi, I hear Mozambique, S. A and Ethiopia would like to send in "Peace Keeping troops." Go on and good luck.
Seven civilians, soldier killed in Burundi fighting
BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Seven civilians caught in the crossfire between Burundi rebels and the army were killed in fighting north of the capital, officials said Monday.
The clashes erupted when rebels from the Front for National Liberation (FNL) faction ambushed a military van heading to the capital Sunday evening, killing one soldier, a local official said.
"The seven civilians were killed by stray bullets," Mathias Karimwabo, the chief of Kamenge zone, told Reuters.
Officials said residents of Kamenge fled their homes fearing army reprisals for harbouring the rebels.
The FNL faction has shunned a truce signed by the country's other major rebel groups aimed at ending a ten-year civil war which has killed 300,000 people in the tiny central African country.
But FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana denied that his Hutu-dominated rebel group was involved in the fighting.
"This is an attack planned by the army to discredit the FNL, because it refuses to negotiate," he said.
Burundi President Pierre Buyoya and Pierre Nkurunziza of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) agreed to a cease-fire in December but clashes between the Tutsi-led army and rebels have continued.
02/03/03 09:43 ET
