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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

BURUNDI: More rebels report at cantonment site

BUJUMBURA, 7 July 2003 (IRIN) - The first group of 150 fighters loyal to rebel leader Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye arrived on Friday at a cantonment site near the Burundian capital, Bujumbura.

Ndayikengurukiye, leader of the smaller of two factions of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), told reporters in Bujumbura that his fighters were registered by the African Union (AU) troops manning the site and were later disarmed.

The 150 joined 58 fighters loyal to the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) rebel faction led by Alain Mugabarabona, who have arrived from 26 June at the cantonment site at Muyange, 30 km northwest of Bujumbura.

Ndayikengurukiye said the cantonment of his fighters was a part of the implementation of a ceasefire agreement signed between his movement and the government in October 2002.

He said the cantonment would continue as the site's capacity to accommodate more fighters increased.

"Every week, we will be sending 200 fighters to the site until we attain the number of 3,000 fighters, including those of the Forces nationales de liberation of Alain Mugabarabona," he said.

He said a technical team from the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB), the AU peacekeeping force, had told him that the Muyange site would accommodate 3,000 fighters, and that other cantonment sites would be identified for more fighters.

AMIB sources estimated that 5,300 fighters of the small rebel groups would be cantoned during the first 90-day period before their integration into the country's new security forces. Of these, 3,500 are expected to come from Ndayikengerukiye's faction and 1,800 from Mugabarabona's faction.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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