[ARABNEWS] Burundi Army has captured scores of gunnies and killed others in two days of festivities in the north, a regional governor said on Sunday, the latest flare-up of violence in a nation that emerged from civil war in 2005.A rebel general, who was involved in a failed coup attempt in May, told Rooters this week he and his comrades were mobilising forces to topple President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has triggered a political crisis by seeking a third term in office.
Gen. Leonard Ngendakumana told French radio on Friday, when the first festivities were reported in north Burundi, his loyalists were involved. The army could not immediately be reached for comment.
The fighting is an alarming development in a region with a history of conflict, often fuelled by ethnic divisions. But an official said the latest fighting did not follow ethnic divides. The US has condemned the violence and urged dialogue.
"About 100 gunnies are in the hands of the army forces," said Anselme Nsabimana, governor of Cibitoke province, which borders both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka
Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
.
"There is no more fighting in Cibitoke. It's calm," he told Rooters, adding rebels were also killed without giving numbers.
"The gunnies are composed of all ethnic groups and are from different provinces of Burundi," the governor said, adding that many were from the capital Bujumbura, the scene of weeks of protests against Nkurunziza.