BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) - Burundi's government lifted a midnight to dawn curfew Friday for the first time since 1993, saying that most of the country is stable after years of civil war. The curfew was first imposed following the assassination of the country's first democratically elected president in 1993. He was a Hutu and was slain by Tutsi paratroopers, setting off a civil war that left more than 250,000 people dead.
A cease-fire was reached between the Tutsi-controlled government and the main Hutu rebel group in 2003 and rebel leader Peter Nkurunziza was elected president in August. One rebel group continues to fight, though in only one of Burundi's 17 provinces - rural Bujumbura. Provincial officials will have the option of maintaining a curfew there. |