FBIS3-434
"drafr045_a_94001"
FBIS-AFR-94-045
Document Type:Daily Report
8 March 1994
CENTRAL AFRICA
Burundi
Ethnic Clashes Reported in Kamenge District
AB0703200194 Paris AFP in English 1851 GMT 7 Mar 94
AB0703200194
Paris AFP
Language: English
Article Type:BFN
[Text] Bujumbura, March 7 (AFP) - Up to 200 people were
killed in weekend clashes with ethnic overtones between
civilians and soldiers in an outlying district of Bujumbura,
Radio Burundi reported Monday [7 March]. Witnesses said some 20
bodies were brought out of the northern Kamenge district after
fighting between civilians mainly of the Hutu majority, and the
powerful army, which largely comprises the Tutsi minority.
Police said 40 people had been killed but the interior
ministry said the death toll could be as high as 200, the radio
said. Humanitarian aid sources said some of the civilians had
firearms.
The rest of the capital was quiet, but the situation has
been
extremely unstable in Burundi since a section of the army
mounted an unsuccessful coup in October against the Hutu
government elected the previous June, killing President Melchior
Ndadaye. An estimated 100,000 people were killed in ethnic
clashes after the coup attempt and another 700,000 fled the
country.
The reason for the latest shooting, which began Friday and
intensified Saturday, was still unknown.
Two Italian doctors with the Belgian arm of the Medecins
Sans
Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) organisation were wounded
Saturday as they drove through the district in a car, aid
sources said. They said the atmosphere in Kamenge was still
very tense, adding that the use of firearms by civilians is a
comparatively recent phenomenon.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it
had evacuated three wounded people from the district Monday, on
top of four brought out Saturday.