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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Tuesday 6 July 2004

GREAT LAKES: DRC-based Rwandan militiamen enter Burundi

BUJUMBURA, 6 Jul 2004 (IRIN) - At least 100 Rwandan Hutu Interahamwe militiamen entered Burundi's northwestern province of Cibitoke on Monday from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a local official.

The governor of Cibitoke, Antoine Buzuguri, told IRIN on Tuesday that the militiamen had entered the country through the commune of Rugombo, using Burundian civilians as porters. He said the militiamen were believed to be heading for the Kibira Forest. "They were seen in Bukinanyana yesterday on their way to Kibira," he added.

The Interahamwe fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, for which they have largely been blamed. Some 937,000 people died during the genocide, according to Rwandan government figures.

A Burundian army spokesman, Cdt Adolphe Manirakiza, told reporters on Tuesday in the capital, Bujumbura, that the exact number of the militiamen had not been established as they were reported to have entered the country in small groups. He estimated that they could be 150 in total.

"Government forces are tracking them down since yesterday in the commune of Bukinanyana, and we have enough forces to dismantle those negative forces," he said.

Monday's entry of the militiamen from the DRC into Burundi is not unprecedented. In April, 150 militia were sighted in Kibira forest, an areas they have operated from to destabilise the province of Cibitoke, particularly the communes of Bukinanyana and Mabayi, which adjoin the forest.

Buzuguri said he believed that Monday's groups were the same as those seen in April. He said they could be returning from the DRC where they had gone to get supplies of weapons and ammunition.

However, Manirakiza maintained that the April group had been dismantled.

Buguzuri said he had held talks on Sunday with his counterpart from the Rwandan province of Cyangugu, on security on the common border. Buguzuri had gone to Rwanda to attend celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the victory of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the ruling party in Rwanda.

In April, Rwanda had massed troops on its border with Burundi and the DRC in a move it said was to guard against possible Interahamwe incursions into Rwanda.

The Interahamwe are counted among the "negative forces" said to be destabilising the whole Great Lakes region. Rwanda has more than once threatened to re-enter the DRC if the Kinshasa government and UN Mission in the DRC fail to disarm and repatriate the Interahamwe.

[ENDS]

This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004