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.