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Burundi accuses Tanzania of cross-border attack
October 27, 1997
Web posted at: 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT)BUJUMBURA, Burundi (CNN) -- Burundi accused neighboring Tanzania of a cross-border incursion in which two soldiers were reportedly killed early on Monday. But the Tanzanian government said it had no knowledge of the alleged shelling.
National radio said the attacks began at around 3 a.m. and lasted about seven hours. Tanzania used heavy weapons to fired on military positions, said Burundi army spokesman Lt. Col. Isaie Ibizi.
The radio broadcast said the shelling targeted the southern towns of Kabonga and Mugina, leaving two soldiers dead and wounding three others.
However, a Tanzanian foreign ministry official told Reuters news agency that "no information about this has been passed to the foreign ministry so far."
Relations between the two nations have worsened over the past few months, with both nations accusing each other of carrying out cross-border raids in which several people were reportedly killed.
The government of Burundi, headed by Pierre Buyoya, has accused the Tanzanian government of supporting Hutu rebels who have been fighting the Tutsi-dominated Burundian army since 1993.
Burundi says the rebels operate from Tanzanian refugee camps sheltering more than 200,000 refugees from Burundi's civil war.
Observers said the alleged attack may just be a warning for Burundi to take care of its own internal ethnic problems.
Burundi also is said to resent Tanzania for leading calls to maintain regional economic sanctions, which were imposed on Burundi after Buyoya seized power in a coup in 1996.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Rwandan refugees flood back toward Tanzania camps - December 13, 1996
- New refugees crisis confronts Tanzania - December 12, 1996
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