BURUNDI: Gunmen kill 36 people in an attack on a bar near the Burundi capital, heightening fears of a growing rebellion

Record ID: 353830

  • Title: BURUNDI: Gunmen kill 36 people in an attack on a bar near the Burundi capital, heightening fears of a growing rebellion
  • Date: 20th September 2011
  • Summary: GATUMBA, BURUNDI (SEPTEMBER 19, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWDS WOMAN HOLDING HER HEAD IN SHOCK VARIOUS OF BODIES BEING LAID VARIOUS OF DIPLOMATS BURUNDI PRESIDENT, PIERRE NKURUNZIZA ARRIVING NKURUNZIZA IN THE STREET DIPLOMATS LISTENING TO NKURUNZIZA (SOUNDBITE) (Kirundi) BURUNDI PRESIDENT, PIERRE NKURUNZIZA SAYING: "The person who is responsible for this does
  • Embargoed: 5th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Burundi, Burundi
  • Country: Burundi
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVAC65BIIY13MAX94LTUCAF891CA
  • Story Text: Gunmen stormed a bar in Burundi late on Sunday (September 18), killing at least 36 people, the deadliest attack in the Central African country this year that has heightened fears of a return to civil war.
    Witnesses said the gunmen, some disguised as policemen, burst into the bar near the capital, Bujumbura, forced its patrons to the ground and raked the interior with bullets.
    Burundi has enjoyed relative peace since the former Hutu hardline rebel Forces for National Liberation (FNL) laid down their weapons and joined the government in 2009 after two decades of insurgency.
    But attacks against civilians and soldiers have intensified since elections last year were widely boycotted by the opposition. Tit-for-tat fighting between the security forces and former militia fighters risks blowing up into a full-scale rebellion, analysts said.
    No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place in the town of Gatumba, 16 km (9 miles) west of the capital, Bujumbura, and close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    Former FNL rebel leader Agathon Rwasa went into hiding in DR Congo in June last year after boycotting the presidential poll he said would be rigged.
    Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza vowed the attackers would be caught in a speech to a crowd in the capital.
    "The person who is responsible for this does not want unity amongst the Burundian people. He does want Burundians to progress, he does not want Burundians to live together in peace. God is watching whoever did this. Even the members of the government and leaders came here to support all of you, and we want you to know, that sooner or later, those who did this will be caught and brought to justice," he said.
    Nkurunziza declared three days of mourning after visiting the scene of the attack.
    Police and soldiers laid the bodies of 23 victims, covered by blankets in rows outside the bar. Inside, pools of blood stained the dirt floor and shards of glass littered the area.
    Burundi has a turbulent post-independence history. Bitter divisions between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups fanned years of civil conflict.
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