BURUNDI: Armed banditry on the increase in Bujumbura

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

BUJUMBURA, 13 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - Banditry reached an all time high this month in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, according to police sources. Officials attribute the increase to the proliferation of weapons in the conflict-prone country and sub-region.

Almost no day passes without an armed robbery in one of the city's 13 neighbourhoods, the security adviser to the mayor of Bujumbura, Silvestre Rutwe, told IRIN on Friday.

Twenty-one cases were registered in July and the figure so far for August is even higher. According to the commandant of the special bureau of investigation for Bujumbura districts, Ildephonse Mushwabure, 12 armed robberies were reported between 1 and 12 August, in which two people were killed and eight injured.

Four armed robberies took place in less than 24 hours on 10 August. Bandits armed with grenades and other weapons attacked a businessman in Buyenzi suburb injuring three people. The same night, one person was killed and another injured in an attack on a bar at Musaga neighbourhood in the south of the capital.

Mushwabure blames government soldiers for some crimes. Since the war began in 1993, they have been allowed to wonder outside their quarters. Rebel combatants who roam the outskirts of the capital may be committing other crimes.

Many witnesses have said that attackers are wearing military uniforms but Mushwabure says they many not really be combatants. "Military uniforms can be accessed easily".

Rutwe also said "some civilians rent their weapons to bandits." He also suspects that a group of armed bandits recently released from prison might have resumed their crimes.

Mushwabure said bandits are targeting vehicles, especially those owned by NGOs. He implicated local NGO staff based on evidence of the bandits sometimes having copies of the car keys.

The vehicles are easily transformed and sold in neighbouring countries, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rutwe said there are now stricter control of the movement of vehicles at the country's borders as well as a ban on soldiers and combatants wearing their uniforms in the city when not on duty.

But Mushwabure said that local police can do little about the crimes as they lack manpower and resources, including communication equipment and vehicles.

[ENDS]