Burundi clashes as UN seeks peace

Thousands of people have fled their homes in recent weeks

A UN delegation is in Burundi to try to help secure peace as fighting continues between the army and the FNL rebels.

The UN Commission for the Consolidation of Peace is spending five days in the country talking to both sides.

The visit had been due to take place last month but was postponed after fighting between government troops and the FNL left 26 dead.

Burundi is emerging from more than a decade of civil war in which about 300,000 people were killed.

In 2006 the government and the FNL (National Liberation Forces) agreed a ceasefire but it broke down after the government rejected rebel demands for power-sharing.

Explosions were heard on Monday morning in the hills overlooking the capital, Bujumbura.

The army has been shelling rebel positions in the districts of Kabezi in the south and Mutimbuzi to the north of the city.

Army spokesman Adolphe Manirakiza could not confirm any casualties but said the army was pursuing "routine patrols" against rebels.

The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in Bujumbura says people are hoping that the arrival of an FNL delegation in Bujumbura this week could mark the end of hostilities.

Representatives from the rebel movement are due in the city on Wednesday to resume the process known as the ceasefire joint verification and monitoring mechanism, which they left in July last year.

The head of the UN delegation, Norway's ambassador to the UN, Johan Lovald, expressed deep concern over the latest fighting.

He said he hoped that the return of the FNL to the negotiation table would bring peace.

But after a month of unabated fighting with the army showing a clear determination to crush the rebels, our correspondent says many people are wondering what remains of the ceasefire agreement.