Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bujumbura (Agenzia Fides) - “No one has been injured or killed and the material damages have been fairly minor,” sources from the Nunciature in Bujumbura told Agenzia Fides, after it was hit by a mortar explosion that came from rebel positions in the hills that surrounding Burundi’s capital city.
“Around 9:30 last night, April 22, a grenade or probably a [small] rocket landed in the interior patio of the Nunciature. Luckily, the residence was empty, as Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Apostolic Nuncio, is on sabbatical, and the Secretary of the Nunciature was just returning to the house,” sources told Fides. “We are still evaluating the damages. There are broken windows and shattered glass, however there doesn’t seem to be any serious damages or structures in danger.”
“We do not think that the rebels deliberately attacked the Nunciature. They probably meant to hit the Presidential residence, which is near the Nunciature. The Presidential Palace, however, is a kilometer away from here,” Fides’ source added.
The attack on Bujumbura led by rebels from the National Liberation Forces (NLF) lasted until midnight, with numerous mortar explosions. The rebel attacks began last week (see Fides 18/4/2008). The fighting that is taking place in the capital and in four provinces to the east of the city, has claimed the lives of some 30 people, a number that is sure to continue rising. Burundi’s army has attacked various rebel strongholds in the Rukoko area, some 20 kilometers from Bujumbura, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In previous attacks on the capital, unidentified persons opened fire on the residence of Leonard Nyangoma, leader of the main opposition party, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy (NCDD). In a statement published by the local press, Nyangoma asks that the government analyze the event and see if it might not be a case of intimidation against the opposition. In the statement, the violence is condemned and a call is made to all parties, asking them to act rationally and to avoid all forms of regionalization or that the conflict take on an ethnic character. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 23/4/2008; righe 27, parole 349)
