Congo gunmen kill 36 in Burundi pub

2011-09-19 19:01

Michelle Faul

Bujumbura - Armed men from Congo burst into a pub in the central African nation of Burundi and killed 36 people, an official said on Monday. One wounded man said an attacker yelled: "Make sure there's no survivors."

Burundi, a tiny nation still reeling from a civil war that killed more than 250 000 people, is awash in weapons but attacks like the one on Sunday night are rare. Still, the region borders eastern Congo, which is wracked by violence from a myriad of rebel groups.

Bujumbura province governor Jacques Minani said the attackers targeted the pub in Gatumba, west of Burundi's capital, after crossing the river from Congo.

Survivor Jackson Kabura, who was shot in the stomach, said the men entered wearing military fatigues.

"One of them said, 'kill them all, kill them all. Make sure there's no survivors,'" he said.

Congolese military spokesperson Sylvain Ekenge said officials were "astonished" by reports that the attackers were believed to be from his country.

He said the perpetrators are more likely to be rebels from Burundi's last rebel army, the Forces for National Liberation. He said Congolese forces had captured some of the Burundian fighters in Congo several months ago.

"It is they who often attack Gatumba and its surroundings, even if Burundian authorities call them bandits, but in this forest there are [Burundian rebel] fighters," he said.

NLF fighters

For the past year there have been reports that the extremist Burundian Hutu rebel group, led by Agathon Rwasa, is operating in eastern Congo and may be preparing for war in Burundi. Burundi has suffered attacks on police which allegedly are linked to a renewed rebellion by the group.

The UN mission in Congo has reported the presence of NLF fighters and bases in eastern Congo, and suggestions they may be allied with Rwandan Hutu rebels also operating there.

The UN Group of Experts on the Congo in a November report quoted "multiple credible sources" on the Burundian group rearming and remobilising in Congo. But Burundi's government has said there is no evidence the group is preparing for war.

Burundi's war started in 1993, when Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country's first democratically elected president, a Hutu. A cease-fire was declared in 2006 but it took several more years to finally see an official end to the fighting.

Gatumba was the site of a 2004 massacre of Congolese refugees. Human Rights Watch said at least 150 people were killed in the attack claimed by the Forces for National Liberation.

- AP