16 January 2008
Bujumbura — The police arrested seven persons in connection with the growing trend of crime in Rumonge city and along National Road 3 linking Bujumbura to Bururi via the shoreline of Lake Tanganyika.
Four were arrested in the village of Makombe last Monday; three others were arrested in the city of Rumonge. Some of these persons are implicated in the ambush on National Road 3 which targeted members of the international audit team. Others are accused of stealing money and mobile telephones in the city of Rumonge. They are now in the prison of the Interior Security Police in the city of Rumonge.
The local people of Rumonge indicated that some of those who were arrested today were responsible for many armed robberies that were carried out in Rumonge and on National Road 3. The population still fears that the police will release these robbers, as they have done in past.
Ambushes on national roads have surged over the last months. These attacked often target passengers whose mobile telephones and money are robbed. The army has repeatedly blamed PALIPEHUTU-FNL for these crimes without prior investigations. After PALIPEHUTU-FNL walked out of the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism, various gangs resumed laying ambushes on the main roads leading to Bujumbura. The situation has escalated to the point that the army has resumed blockading roads at 5:00PM. The head of state encouraged after the ceasefire between the government of Burundi and PALIPEHUTU-FNL was struck, lifted the curfew that had lasted for more than three decades. This practice was short-lived, however, and in practice the curfew was not lifted in all areas.
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