BUJUMBURA, 10 June (IRIN) - Burundian
rebels loyal to Alain Mugabarabona's faction of the Forces nationales de
liberation (FNL) said on Tuesday that conditions at a troop cantonment
site 30 km northwest of the capital, Bujumbura, were inadequate.
"Our commanders visited the place
last weekend [7-8 June] and noted that sanitation and material conditions
were not yet ready: there is no food, no barracks for combatants,"
Leandre Sikuyavuga, the secretary-general of the FNL faction, told IRIN.
He said FNL commanders had been ready to be barracked since 8 June "but till now nobody has come to pick them up". He urged the African Union, which is directing the cantonment operations, to speed up the process at the Muyange site.
But the AU representative in Burundi, Ambassador Mamadou Bah, rejected FNL's allegations.
"I wonder if these people have fighters to be cantoned," he said. "We asked them several times to tell us where we can find their combatants in order to regroup them in pre-assembly areas, but this has never been done."
He added: "Something they should also bear in mind is that the AU has partners in this cantonment process: the government and NGOs also help, the task is shared."
Theoretically, cantonment operations were due to run from 6-20 June. Some 3,500 fighters loyal to the Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye faction of another rebel group, Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) faction; and up to 1,800 of Mugabarabona's fighters were expected assemble at Muyange, the first cantonment area.
The African Mission in Burundi (AMIB) had earlier stated that a specific procedure would be followed regarding the security and reception of the rebel troops in cantonment areas. Belligerents, it had said, would regroup in specific pre-assembly areas and would be escorted by AMIB troops to the cantonment area.
A cantonment area, it said, would only accommodate the combatants, without their families, for a maximum period of 90 days.
The AU has sent 232 South African troops to Burundi. They are mandated to monitor ceasefire agreements signed between the government and rebel groups and to monitor the cantonment and disarmament of rebel troops.
When fully deployed, by August, they are expected to number 3,099: that is 1,600 South Africans, 1,297 Ethiopians and 202 Mozambicans. The 700 South African troops, which have been in the country since 200- to protect returning Burundian politicians, will form part of the South African contingent.
[ENDS]
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