Burundi rebel attacks kill 7
2005-06-15 11:43
Bujumbura - At least seven people have been killed this week in attacks near Burundi's capital by the country's lone remaining rebel group as efforts continue to cement a shaky tentative truce, the army said on Wednesday.
Two civilians, two government soldiers and three fighters from the rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL) were killed during two FNL attacks around Bujumbura on Monday and Tuesday, said army spokesperson Adolphe Manirakiza.
On Tuesday, the FNL launched an attack in the village of Mpanda about 12km north of Bujumbura in which one soldier was wounded and three rebels were killed, he said.
On Monday, the group ambushed an army patrol on the northern outskirts of the capital in which two soldiers and two civilians were killed, Manirakiza said.
The attacks came as government and FNL representatives were meeting in neighbouring Tanzania in a bid to cement the fragile ceasefire and begin formal peace negotiations.
Those talks ended on Tuesday in Dar es Salaam with the issuance of a joint communique in which the two sides agreed to respect the May 15 truce and committed themselves to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
They also agreed to resume the ceasefire talks, which had focused on accusations of truce violations which both sides have made, at an unspecified date.
The government has accused the rebels of attempting to disrupt the June 3 local elections while the FNL has said it has only responded to attacks on it by the military.
The FNL is the only one of Burundi's seven rebel groups not to have signed onto the peace process aimed at ending a devastating 12-year-old civil war in which 300 000 people have been killed.