Refugees Burundi

An estimated 15,000 refugees have fled from northwest Burundi to Zaire in the past 10 days to escape clashes between Burundi troops and gunmen, the U.N. food agency said. Gemmo Lodesani, Burundi representative for the World Food Program, said the refugees fled from a province where officials say at least 29 civilians have been killed in fighting between the Tutsi-dominated army and extremist Hutu gunmen.

An estimated 30,000 refugees fearing new ethnic violence have fled Burundi since the army overthrew the government and cut communications with the outside world, the Red Cross said Friday. Several sources said the country's ousted president had been assassinated. Philippe Gaillard, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Rwanda, said 30,000 Hutus, the majority ethnic group in Burundi, had crossed Burundi's northern border into Rwanda.

Burundi's leader said Thursday that his soldiers killed civilians in reprisals for the massacres of rival tribesmen, and he said the death toll from ethnic violence in the central African nation could be more than 5,000. The leader, Maj. Pierre Buyoya, was quoted on state-run Radio Burundi, monitored in neighboring Rwanda. More than 41,000 Burundians have fled to Rwanda to escape fighting between the majority Hutu and the minority Tutsi, who control Burundi's government and military.

Refugees fleeing tribal violence in Burundi say that the army took part in the slaughter of thousands of people in that small, central African nation, a U.N. official said Tuesday. At least 5,000 people have been reported killed in massacres during fighting between two tribes. Code Cisse, the representative in Rwanda of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said that about 38,000 refugees have fled Burundi into neighboring Rwanda since the killing broke out Aug. 14.

Refugees fleeing tribal massacres in Burundi on Sunday gave gruesome accounts of the slaughter and suggested that thousands have been killed. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that at least 30,000 people have fled across the border into Rwanda. "Those who fled may be less numerous than those who died," survivor Antoine Mpabonimana said. She said three of her children were bayoneted to death by troops who took part in the killings.

Order has been restored after tribal massacres in Burundi that sent up to 10,000 refugees fleeing into neighboring Rwanda, diplomats said Friday. It was not known how many people died in the conflict between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes. The official Burundian news agency ABP said the toll appeared to be very great but gave no numbers. The Hutu is the majority tribe in Burundi, but the minority Tutsi controls the military and rules the country.