BURUNDI: THOUSANDS FLEE THEIR HOMES AFTER FIGHTING BREAKS OUT BETWEEN THE TUTSI LED ARMY AND HUTU REBELS AROUND THE TOWN OF GITEGA.

Record ID: 376235

  • Title: BURUNDI: THOUSANDS FLEE THEIR HOMES AFTER FIGHTING BREAKS OUT BETWEEN THE TUTSI LED ARMY AND HUTU REBELS AROUND THE TOWN OF GITEGA.
  • Date: 20th January 2003
  • Summary: (U1) GITEGA, BURUNDI (RECENT - JANUARY 22, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: OF THE CHURCH WHERE THE INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE (IDP) ARE STAYING. 0.05 2. VARIOUS: OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE. (3 SHOTS) 0.23 3. MV: MAN COOKING WITH BOY NEXT TO HIM. 0.27 4. WS: MILITARY PERSONNEL STANDING AROUND. 0.34 5. TRACK: SICK WOM
  • Embargoed: 4th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GITEGA, BURUNDI
  • Country: Burundi
  • Reuters ID: LVAB69PWIQKJQNPILIIHEKC5IOGS
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in an
    outbreak of fighting between the army and rebels in central
    Burundi.



    Recent fighting between ethnic Hutu rebels and the
    Tutsi-led army around the central town of Gitega, has uprooted
    about 40,000 people.

    Though it is difficult to know how many casualties the
    attacks have caused, aid workers estimate that some civilians
    have been killed, and nearly 60,000 had fled the fighting.

    "On Friday we heard that the assailants had arrived in
    Bukinga, they were shooting, I saw people going to the market
    fleeing so we also fled," says one of the displaced, Dalia
    Bakari.

    Many of the displaced have managed to shelter at a church
    where they spend their days with nowhere else to run to.

    Despite the problems they face as displaced people, they have
    managed to survive the autrocities of sporadic attacks in
    Burundi.

    "We have a lot of problems like cold, sickness and we are
    really suffering. We would be happy if peace comes back," says
    Rosalie Sinzohagera.

    But despite their temporary shelter, many of them would be
    happy for peace to return to their homes.

    Victor Miburo says: "The first thing that am asking for
    even before food is peace my country. On this land I can
    already hear people shouting with joy when they will be told
    you can now go and die on your piece of land."
    But as long as they eat, cook, sleep and live their life
    on the run, the need for peace will be all that they can dream
    of, peace in their country, so that they can be able to go
    home.

    The fighting around Gitega pitted the army against the
    Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), one of two main
    rebel groups in Burundi.

    The FDD signed a peace agreement with the government in
    December, but fighting has continued since then.

    Hutu rebels have been fighting the army in Burundi since
    1993 in a war which has killed an estimated 300,000 people,
    mostly civilians. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.



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