The security situation is not good at all in the province of Bubanza.
The security situation does not improve at all in the province of Bubanza as shows it the numerous cases of assassinations, armed robberies which are reported in the different places of the province.
October 27, 2006, Ciza Nyandwi of Muramba in the commune of Bubanza was assassinated with a machete by people who accused him of sorcery.
Governor of Bubanza Province shot dead in ambush(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
Bigirimana was travelling by car from Bubanza to Bujumbura with a police officer and another aide when they were ambushed by men believed to be members of Agathon Rwasa’s Forces nationales de liberation {National Liberation Forces - FNL—Palipehutu).
"The governor's vehicle was ambushed at Tranversal 7 [a road leading to Bubanza] near the Rukoko Forest Reserve, the FNL stronghold, at 5:15 p.m.
The groups, he said, disagreed with the governor and there was evidence of this in letters he wrote to the Ministry of the Interior.
The first camps where to regroup the Hutu population were created in the province of Karuzi, in February 1996, by the governor of the province, lieutenant colonel Gabriel Gunungu.
In April 97 the camps in the single province of Bubanza counted 159.000 people in camps, that is about 57% of the whole Hutu population.
In a letter addressed to the UN Secretary General on 17th April 1998, representatives of the camps population in the province of Bubanza complained that the camps had been transformed into cemeteries, because those killed by the military or dead from hunger or diseases were buried on the spot, next to their poor dwellings.
As accusations and counter-accusations flew among rebels and former rebels, it was therefore not clear who had gunned down the governor of Bubanza province, about 25 kilometres north of Bujumbura, the Burundian capital.
Bubanza province, located in the western part of Burundi, close to the capital, is one of the five provinces in the country where armed rebel activity still occurs.
Bubanza province, which borders Congo Kinshasa, houses a significant Banyamulenge population.
www.afrol.com /articles/15356 (520 words)
ReliefWeb » Document Preview » OCHA Burundi: Update on the Humanitarian Situation 01 - 29 Jun 2001(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
A pick-up of the international NGO Children's Aid Direct (CAD) was ambushed and attacked in Bubanza province on Thursday, 21 June 2001.
In a statement, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Burundi strongly condemns the incident and calls on all warring parties in Burundi to adhere to international humanitarian and human rights law, to cease and desist from the targeting of civilian populations and humanitarian relief workers and to ensure their safety and security.
The incident in Bubanza once again highlights the issue of access to all vulnerable populations, specifically IDPs, which remains a major concern of the international humanitarian community in Burundi.
Burundi Realities - Analysis, Research, Information and Data on Burundi(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
The FDD (Forces for the Defense of Democracy) in Namitanga, Bubanza, among the population.
The FDD are seen here in Namitanga in the province of Bubanza among the population apparently content with the presence of these combatants in their midst.
With the signature of the political and cease-fire and accord, the combatants do not hesitate to go and share a drink with the governmental soldiers and cooperate with them in spite of the absence of the Technical Forces Agreement.
Distress message from the populations confined in military positions in Bubanza(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
We the population of BUBANZA, forcibly confined in military positions by BUYOYA's army, wish to inform you of the inhuman treatments we are subjected to daily by the army and the administration of BUYOYA.
Your excellency, all the above shows that BUYOYA and his government perpetrate a genocide that has claimed the lives of 60,000 souls in BUBANZA since the implementation of the policy of confinement of populations around military positions.
Signed by representatives of the population confined around military positions in BUBANZA province.
On 27 November, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, accompanied by OCHA, visited Bubanza province to meet with the Governor and visit a displaced site located in Ngara and the transit centre for unaccompanied run by Children's Aid Direct at Mpan da.
The Governor of Bubanza, the province with the largest displaced population in Burundi, has initiated a policy of dismantling larger sites by moving people to smaller sites closer to their homes.
Prisons and detention centers in Bu jumbura, Gitega, Rutana, Muramvya, Bururi, Makamba, Karuzi and Ruyigi were visited this month; the overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions and cases of prolonged detention were once again brought to the attention of prison administrators and the Ministry of Justice.
The agency's office in Bujumbura, the Burundicapital, reported that the beneficiaries had received 78 mt of food in initial emergency aid, which was expected to sustain them for seven days.
As security continued to improve in the area, it said, most of the Bubanza displaced had started returning to their hilltop homes.
It said 1,278 mt of food aid was distributed in Kayanza, Makamba, Muramvya, Bubanza and Karuzi provinces during the week.
The country counts fifteen of them, namely, Bubanza, Bujumbura, Bururi, Cankuzo, Cibitoke, Gitega, Karuzi, Kayanza, Kirundo, Makamba, Muramvya, Muyinga, Ngozi, Rutana, and Ruyigi, to which must be added the urban province of Bujumbura.
Before 1979, there were eight provinces, subdivided into 18 arrondissements, which were further divided into 78 communes.
About half of Bukinanyana commune was transferred from Bubanza to Cibitoke.
Three international NGOs who have been operating in Bubanza - CAD, International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Action contre la faim (ACF) - have suspended their activities in the province until further notice.
Meanwhile, the rebel Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) denied any involvement in the Bubanza attack.
In a statement, received by IRIN on Wednesday, the CNDD-FDD said it did not target civilians in its fight against the Burundian army.
