Rebels release hostages as fighting displaces 15,000

As the UN reported that fighting in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, had displaced thousands of people, the rebels who had been shelling the city for about a week released on Sunday 39 hostages they had held captive. Pasteur Habimana, the spokesman for the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) faction led by Agathon Rwasa, told IRIN on Sunday that the hostage release was to prove that Burundian Hutus and Tutsis could "live together without any problem". He said the hostages were Tutsis captured by Hutus "but they were not mistreated". Some of the hostages, a majority of them women and children, said they had not been tortured or ill-treated. One of them, who requested anonymity, told IRIN that the rebels provided medical care for the injured. Another hostage, Mami, 23, said the rebels destroyed her home before taking her into the hills. "They gave us water and food, we ate night and day and we slept in a good area," she said. Habimana said that the FNL expected the Burundian army to reciprocate by treating its hostages in a humane manner. "They should stop showing images of the dead combatants on television," he said. On its part, the army said it appreciated the release of the hostages, but added that it could not tolerate further attacks on the city. "Even if it [the release] is a positive action, we cannot forget negative acts committed by the FNL," Col Augustin Nzabampema, the army spokesman, said. He said the FNL used children, aged between 11 and 15 years, in the battle, and that a majority of the 28 killed in the Sunday attack were children. He added that the rebels were continuing to shell civilians. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Friday that the fighting between the army and the FNL rebels, mainly in the city's southern suburbs, had led to the displacement of at least 15,000 people from Kanyosha, Musaga and Kinindo communes. The displaced were temporarily relocated in the Burundi Life Museum grounds, OCHA reported, and that others were gathered "in significant numbers" at the Petit Seminaire of Kanyosha, in Musaga, and the Pentecostal Church in Kinindo. Overall, the situation in the capital was reported to be improving. Local officials said about 200 bodies of the rebels had been counted since 7 June when the attacks began. The figure of civilians and soldiers killed remained unknown. OCHA expressed concern for the inaccessible civilians in the south, particularly in Bujumbura Rural, where closed highways had prevented any humanitarian access. “As the fighting moves and spreads into the interior of the country, the international aid community must remain vigilant in their endeavour to assist and protect civilians," Antoine Gerard, head of the OCHA office in Burundi, said. "Their exposure to conflict and relative isolation from the capital makes them particularly vulnerable," he added. OCHA reported that UN agencies, together with international NGOs active in the city, had facilitated the delivery of emergency aid to the displaced. The UN Children's Fund had provided high protein biscuits; the UN World Food Programme had given seven-day food rations; Catholic Relief Services had provided non-food items and the German Technical Cooperation had constructed 15 shelters for the displaced. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Rescue Committee had provided water. International medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported that it was providing medical aid in two camps for the displaced. "One of the camps is situated in the southern periphery between Kinindo and Musaga, an area close to the fighting," MSF reported. The camp is home to some 700 people, mainly women and children. MSF is also providing aid in a camp in the city centre, where an estimated 1,900 displaced people are gathered. "On Wednesday, we put up a small emergency dispensary for the displaced people in this camp," Veronique Parque, MSF head of mission in Burundi, said. She added that 200 patients were attended to by the end of the day. "The main health problems of the displaced are diarrhoea, respiratory infections and head aches," she said.