Rwandan Hutu rebels cross into Burundi

BUJUMBURA — The Burundian army said Monday that around 10 Rwandan Hutu rebels had entered the country from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo but did not pose a threat to peace.
It said the rebels had entered the country to escape an offensive by the Congolese army and UN peacekeepers, but were not in a position to carry out an attack.
"The army last week received information about incursions into Burundi by FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) rebels ... escaping from the military pressure resulting from the raids by the Congolese army and blue helmets" in DR Congo, army spokesman General Lazare Nduwayo told AFP.
"It's a team of about 10 men who have infiltrated through Kibira forest," he said, adding: "There's no reason to be alarmed as nothing proves there is a large FDLR or Interhamwe unit in Burundi".
"If some FDLR elements are present they're not in a position to carry out any sort of an attack, either against the DRC or against Rwanda," the spokesman said.
The FDLR denied the report, saying the men were either demobilised former Burundian rebels or demobilised former Burundian government soldiers who crossed back home after going into DR Congo to "loot border villages and ambush vehicles".
Up to 6,000 FDLR fighters, including some believed to have taken part in Rwanda's 1994 genocide of Tutsis, are still believed to be based in eastern DR Congo despite a joint military offensive by the armies of Kigali and Kinshasa last year.