Thousands flee Burundi violence

Burundi has asked aid organisations for help

Escalating fighting in Burundi's northern Kayanza province has uprooted 65,000 people and left many dead.

Administration authorities in Burundi are reported to have contacted humanitarian agencies seeking aid for the tens of thousands displaced.

Army sources accused rebels belonging to the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) group of attacking a camp set up to house those fleeing Burundi's decade-old war.

"FDD rebels attacked Kayanza province on Monday," Brigadier-General Sylvestre Nimubona said.

The army responded strongly, many of [the rebels] were killed

Brigadier-General Sylvestre Nimubona

"The army responded strongly, many of [the rebels] were killed and others were driven back to a neighbouring commune where the army is still chasing them. I am not able to tell the exact toll as fighting continues in that area."

The rebel faction, led by Pierre Nkurunziza, accused the army of launching an offensive.

"As usual, the army launched attacks on our different positions in Butaganzwa," FDD Major Gelase Ndabirabe said.

"What we are doing is to defend ourselves against army shelling."

Aid moving

Edouard Nkurunziza, governor of Kayanza, said the UN World Food Programme had responded positively to requests for it to assist in the crisis.

We are trying to defend ourselves against army shelling

FDD Major Gelase Ndabirabe

"Aid distribution can start at any time," he said.

Fighting between the Tutsi-led army and Hutu rebels has been raging since 1993.

Burundi borders neighbouring Rwanda where an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days between April and June 1994.

Burundi's own war is thought to have killed more than 300,000 people over the past 10 years, mostly civilians.

A ceasefire was recently signed between the Burundi government and the FDD - but observers say this has largely been disregarded.

African peace monitors have recently started deploying in Burundi to try to monitor what had previously been considered a nominal truce between rebels and the government.