Burundi fighting forces thousands to leave homes

BUJUMBURA, Burundi -- Renewed fighting between rebels and government troops over the weekend forced at least 3,000 people to flee their homes, a government official said Monday.

Ignace Ntawembarira, governor of Bujumbura-Rural province outside the capital, said the fighting broke out Sunday when rebels from the larger of two factions of the National Liberation Forces fired on government troops on patrol in a rebel-held neighborhood.

"Soldiers shot into the mass of people in retaliation," Ntawembarira said. He could not say how many civilians were hurt but one soldier was reported killed.

'Provocation'

The faction has bases in the string of hills overlooking the city on Lake Tanganyika. Last month, an estimated 300 civilians and rebels were killed when the group tried to take control of Bujumbura.

Rebel spokesman Pasteur Habonimana called the entry of government troops into the rebel-held area "a provocation."

The fighting broke out a day after South African-mediated talks in neighboring Tanzania between the government and another rebel group, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy, or FDD, were temporarily suspended because of a disagreement over the creation of a new Burundian army that is supposed to incorporate various rebel factions.

State-run Radio Burundi said the government delegation returned to Bujumbura Saturday from Dar es Salaam. South African President Thabo Mbeki had told reporters earlier last week that the talks would be concluded by Friday.

Although political parties representing Burundi's Hutu majority and Tutsi minority reached a power-sharing agreement in August 2000, there is no effective cease-fire agreement with either rebel group. The larger FDD faction signed a cease-fire with the government last December, but it has not been respected by either side.

The 10-year civil war in Burundi broke out in October 1993. Since then more than 200,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed, and more than 1 million displaced.