Bujumbura — The second military region has succeeded in sending back a number of so-called dissidents who were stationed in the bush of Gihamagara since Saturday.

After talks with the commander of the second military region, Col Prime Niyongabo, it was clear that those young people who gathered in Gihamagara were civilians from the Taba and Bukirasazi communes rather than dissidents. These young people were seeking to be demobilised or integrated into the security and defence forces.

This was the second time that dissidence emerged from Gitega, a province that does not constitute a stronghold of the FNL-PALIPEHTU. In September, the presence of the dissident wing of FNL-PALIPEHUTU was announced in Bugendana commune of the same province, but not one combatant appeared.

This incident points toward what favouring dissidence in the FNL-PALIPEHUTU might bring about in a country where hunger and pauperisation are wreaking havoc. In Makamba, an armed group claiming to be dissidents of the FNL-PALIPEHUTU appeared two weeks ago, but it was later found to be a gang of robbers made up of thieves from Tanzania and Burundi, soldiers from the national defence force and the national police.