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Burundi death toll rises to 26 in three-day battle
by Patrick Nduwimana

Reuters Translate This Article
19 April 2008

BUJUMBURA, April 19 (Reuters) - Burundi's army battled rebels for a third day running on Saturday, in clashes that have killed 20 fighters and six soldiers, a military spokesman 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 (FNL), spokesman Colonel Adolphe Manirakiza said.

'We have been obliged to use strong means, because the FNL planned to attack different army bases,' he said, adding that the situation was now calm.

The latest violence started on Thursday night when FNL rebels fired mortar bombs at government positions in Bujumbura, drawing return fire from the military.

Manirakiza revised the previous death toll of 14 rebels and troops, saying 10 more FNL fighters and two soldiers were killed in clashes that continued until Saturday morning.

Much of the fighting centred on the FNL's Bubanza stronghold, 50 km (30 miles) northwest of the capital.

Political tensions have escalated in the tiny central African coffee-growing nation since July, when the FNL quit a team monitoring a 2006 truce and accused mediators of bias.

The Hutu FNL, which has launched sporadic attacks on military positions, did not confirm the new death toll, but accused the government of planning to wipe them out.

'We are trying to defend ourselves against army raids, because the government planned to eliminate all FNL fighters,' said FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana from Dar Es Salaam.

The FNL's persistent insurgency is seen by many as the final barrier to lasting stability in the country of 8 million which is slowly emerging from more than a decade of ethnic war that killed 300,000.

Burundi has urged the United Nations and regional countries to take tough measures against the FNL rebels, which it says is receiving support from Rwandan Hutu rebels based in east Congo.

But Habimana denied the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) were helping his FNL group.

'We have never worked with the FDLR. We do not share the same ideology or fight with them,' Habimana said. 'By saying this, the government wants to manipulate the international community.'

(Editing by Katie Nguyen)

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