Citation
Many of the prisoners said they were from the outlying districts of Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, and from the north-western communes of Buganda and Rugombo.
They said they were recruited by Palipetutu in refugee camps in Sange (Zaire) and Bugarama and Nshili in Rwanda after November's attacks on army barracks in the capital led by Gerard Ciza. The official death count in those attacks -- beaten back by the army -- was 551.
Ciza, who acts as the Hutu representative in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, led the latest raid into north-western Burundi, according to the prisoners.
The prisoners confirmed that one group of 200 fighters infiltrated Burundi through the Kibira forest, Mabayi commune, north of Cibitoke, while another group of 300 rebels came from the west through Buganda commune, to the south of Cibitoke.
Bikomagu said some rebels were well trained in ambush techniques.
dn/dl/rj/fc AFP AFP SEQN-0198
