Burundi 'needs military solution'

Rebel attacks hinder humanitarian assistance

The Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, has suggested that a military solution is needed to end Burundi's decade of fighting.

Mr Museveni was speaking in Kampala on Tuesday after a meeting with South Africa's deputy president Jacob Zuma, the main mediator in the Burundi conflict.

Mr Zuma said the option of sending a regional force to Burundi would be discussed at a weekend summit in Tanzania, and that the region was ready to do everything to implement peace in Burundi.

We deplore the abduction of our colleagues and any form of harassment directed towards our staff members Statement from aid agencies in Burundi

Mr Museveni described the acceleration of hostilities by Hutu rebels in Burundi as unacceptable.

"It's not a good precedence that the whole region could spend almost seven years on an issue - and just a handful of people come and torpedo it. It's not a good idea at all," he said.

Mr Zuma's diplomatic mission follows renewed attacks on the capital, Bujumbura, by rebels of the National Liberation Forces-Party for Liberation of Hutu People (FNL), who have been battling the Tutsi-dominated government troops for more than a week.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has removed the non-essential international staff from its 100-strong mission in Bujumbura due to continuing fighting in the capital.

The deputy spokeswoman for the UN Secretary General, Hua Jiang, told BBC News Online that the organisation would "maintain its humanitarian emergency operations".

In pictures: Burundi's besieged capital

"We will assess the security situation and take further appropriate action," she said.

Fighting was reported on Tuesday night between government forces and rebels in a predominantly Hutu district of Bujumbura.

Insecurity

This is the third time in a week that foreign organisations have decided to withdraw their staff from Bujumbura.

On Sunday, the US state department ordered the departure of non-essential staff from the American embassy in Burundi, and advised American nationals to leave the country.

On Tuesday, seven international charity organisations in Burundi condemned the abduction of three humanitarian workers in two separate incidents in the southern Makamba Province.

The Burundi army and rebel forces are blamed for human rights violations

Following the abductions on July 9th and 10th, the three charities (the German Technical Co-operation, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee), that employed the workers have suspended their operations in Makamba.

In a statement, non-governmental organisations including the Agro Action Allemande and World Vision sought the support of the government and people of Burundi in ensuring the safety of their workers to enable them continue to carry out their humanitarian missions.

'Harassment'

"As a collective body of organisation dedicated to providing humanitarian relief to vulnerable populations, we deplore the abduction of our colleagues and any form of harassment directed towards our staff members," they said in the statement.

At the same time, international human rights organisation Amnesty International condemned on Tuesday what it said were "serious" human rights abuses committed by government and rebels troops during the past week's fighting in the southern suburbs of Bujumbura.

Amnesty said that unless immediate preventive action was taken, indiscriminate reprisals by government forces against Hutus suspected of supporting or colluding with the rebels was likely.

A 3,000-strong force of African Union (AU) peacekeepers is in Burundi as part of AU efforts to end the conflict, which has killed an estimated 300,000 people.