BURUNDI: FNL shells capital on eve of presidential poll

NAIROBI, 19 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - Burundi's only remaining rebel group, the Front national de libération (FNL), shelled the capital with mortars on Thursday, in what the army says is an effort to stamp its presence on the minds of the country's new political leaders.

"We think that the FNL is planning to intensify attacks from now until the inauguration [of the president], just to show that it is still present on the ground and maybe put some pressure on the new government to talk to them," Maj Adolphe Manirakiza, the army spokesman, said on Thursday from the capital.

He said six shells landed harmlessly in fields on the northeast edge of Bujumbura. However, he said, three government soldiers and eight rebels were killed when the FNL attacked an army post in the same area the same day.

The FNL, which has till recently confined its attacks to the west and south of the country, attacked targets in northern Kayanza and Muramvya provinces on Sunday for the first time since the start of the country's ethnically driven civil war in 1993, army officers said.

The FNL is the only rebel group that has not signed a ceasefire deal with the transitional government. The largest former rebel group, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie of Pierre Nkurunziza, has done so and is today a political party that dominates parliament.

Under the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi, the legislature will on Friday chose the country's first post-transitional president, and Nkurunziza is the sole candidate for the post.

[ENDS]