20100925
reuters

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - A series of macabre civilian murders in Burundi is threatening the central African nation's fragile political stability, and has raised fears that a new rebellion might be brewing.

The government blames bandits, but some central Africa analysts say the attacks bear the hallmarks of the former Forces for National Liberation (FNL) rebel group.

"It is clear those bandits are located in an area that is a well known area for FNL," said Thierry Vircoulon, central Africa project director at International Crisis Group (ICG). "They operate in the same way the FNL used to operate. They have targeted the people and animals of their enemies."

Former FNL rebel leader Agathon Rwasa disappeared from Bujumbura in late June after boycotting presidential elections which he said would be rigged. Rwasa and a number of close allies were said to have moved to South Kivu in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Vircoulon said the attacks were worrying for Burundi's political stability, and underscored tensions after it held a number of elections that most opposition parties boycotted.

"It is worrying of course... given the history of the country and you can see the same patterns of actions, actions targeting civilians."

Burundi's population of 8 million people has a turbulent post-independence history. Bitter divisions between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups fanned years of civil war.

In one attack earlier this month, gunmen killed at least seven workers on a sugar plantation in the Rukoko forest, 25 km outside Bujumbura. The assailants returned later to slaughter dozens of cattle.