Hutu rebels launch fresh attack on Burundi capital
By Patrick Nduwimana
BUJUMBURA, July 13 (Reuters) - The Burundi army, grappling for control of Bujumbura, said Hutu rebels launched a fresh offensive on Sunday, striking close to the vice-president's residence before being driven back by government troops.
In the early morning attack, the rebel National Forces of Liberation (FNL) who are fighting to end the political dominance of minority Tutsis, shelled three eastern suburbs in the capital.
Five days of heavy clashes last week between the Tutsi-led army and the FNL, Burundi's second largest Hutu rebel group, killed up to 174 people and forced thousands more to flee their homes. There had been no fighting on Saturday
Army spokesman Colonel Augustin Nzabampema said 28 rebels were killed and two soldiers wounded in the rebel attack on Sunday which targeted the Gihosha, Mutanga and Gatoke suburbs.
"They attempted to infiltrate Gihosha and Mutanga north but the army repulsed them back," Nzabampema told Reuters.
"They entered Gatoke suburb...not too far from the residence of the vice president where they were met with strong resistance from government troops," he said.
Residents said the city was calmer on Sunday afternoon with distant fighting heard on the hilly outskirts of the city.
Frightened by reports that rebels were taking people hostage and executing them, many displaced residents spent a sixth night in makeshift camps in the city centre.
The rebel attack, part of a decade-long conflict, began last Monday when FNL forces fired mortars at southern suburbs in the capital and sent combatants from hilltop hideouts into sections of the city.
The fighting subsided when the army turned their helicopter gunships on rebel positions, saying on Saturday it had repelled the rebel attack.
However, the FNL were defiant, saying pockets of rebels who remained in the city would fight on. A captured rebel said 2,100 combatants had been involved in the offensive.
"We are in the capital and we will fight to the last man if it is needed," said FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana.
Civil war in Burundi has devastated the tiny central African country of 6.5 million people, killing 300,000 people since 1993.
Fighting has persisted despite a ceasefire agreement between the government and main Hutu rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy.
The FNL, which did not sign the truce, has vowed to use its offensive to pressure the government of new President Domitien Ndayizeye to start negotiating with them.
South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma is due to discuss Burundi on a regional visit next week where he is expected to meet Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Burundi government officials.
07/13/03 08:36 ET
