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Burundi: Vatican embassy suffers minor damage in rebel attack

The Holy See embassy was on Tuesday night hit by a mortar explosion that came from rebel positions in the hills surrounding the Burundian capital, reports CISA News.

No one was killed or injured and material was damage minor.

“On April 22 at night, a grenade or probably a small rocket landed in the interior patio of the Nunciature. Luckily, the residence was empty, as Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Apostolic Nuncio, is on sabbatical, and the Secretary of the Nunciature was just returning to the house,” sources told Fides.

“We do not think that the rebels deliberately attacked the Nunciature. They probably meant to hit the Presidential residence, which is near the Nunciature. The Presidential Palace, however, is a kilometer away from here, sources from the residence told Fides.

The attack on Bujumbura led by rebels from the National Liberation Forces (NLF) began last week.

The fighting that is taking place in the capital and in four provinces to the east of the city, has claimed the lives of at least 30 people, a number that is sure to continue rising.

Burundi’s army has attacked various rebel strongholds in the Rukoko area, some 20 kilometers from Bujumbura, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In previous attacks on the capital, unidentified persons opened fire on the residence of Leonard Nyangoma, leader of the main opposition party, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy (NCDD).

In a statement published by the local press, Nyangoma asked the government to analyze the event and see if it is a case of intimidation against the opposition.

The opposition leader also condemned the violence and called on all parties to act rationally and to avoid all forms of regionalization to avoid ethnic conflict.

[04/29/2008]

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