Residents of Buterere commune near the Burundian capital of Bujumbura have returned to their homes after fleeing clashes between rebel factions that left 20 fighters dead.

An uneasy calm enveloped the commune, with residents saying the fighters had left the area. The Burundian army, however, vowed to crack down on the rebels unless they abandon their current positions.

"Our defence forces did not react quickly to calls to chase the combatants away from the population's neighbourhood," the defence minister, Lt-Gen Germain Niyoyankana, said on 5 September.

Urging the residents of Buterere to alert the armed forces when there were rebels in the area, he added: "They are the ones to suffer most when security is disturbed."

The clashes, which broke out on 3 September, forced hundreds of families to flee their homes as factions of the rebel Forces nationales de libération (FNL) clashed at Mugaruro where one of the FNL wings opposed to leader Agathon Rwasa had retreated into a small forest.

The Buterere administrator, Moise Ndayisenga, said residents and local administrators had been urging the FNL factions to move out of the area, pending their assembly for demobilisation or integration.

A local resident said: "We are happy the combatants have gone."

The defence minister urged the rebel leaders and combatants not to waste time and join other Burundians in building the country. "They should come and share with others what is available and discard the thinking that they can succeed in using weapons," he told reporters. "The army will not allow the formation of rebel strongholds, and will react strongly - with arms if necessary."

He called on the army not to engage in politics. "Officers who take part in political meetings do this on their own and not on behalf of the defence forces," Niyoyankana warned.

Earlier, FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana had accused the government of creating a faction in the FNL to force a return of combatants who remained in the Democratic Republic of Congo when the movement returned to Burundi in 2003.

The clashes were the latest sign of tensions within the FNL. Two years ago, a breakaway faction accused Rwasa of gross human-rights violations. More recently, the FNL walked out of a ceasefire monitoring team set up after it signed a truce with the government in September 2006.

The team was to start work in February but it has been delayed by the wrangles. Burundi peace mediator and South African security minister Charles Nqakula has, however, said the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism would be relaunched soon so that the country's peace process could be concluded by the end of the year.

Residents of Mogadishu, who had returned to the Somali capital after fleeing recent fighting between government forces and insurgents, are leaving the city again amid continuing violence, local sources said.

"There has been an increase in the number of displaced who have returned to the camp in the past 30 days," said Hawa Abdi, a doctor, whose 26-hectare compound, 20km south of Mogadishu, is home to thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

"There were about 12,000 people sheltering in the compound in May, but there are now double this figure," she told IRIN on 4 July.

"The property next to mine is now being turned into an IDP camp and as I am speaking to you, I can see a new family putting up a temporary shelter," Abdi said. "In May, people had been returning to Mogadishu but in June we saw people coming [instead] to the camp."

An estimated 1,000 families returned to the area in June alone, she said.
Despite the violence, at least 123,000 of the 400,000 people who fled Mogadishu between February and June have returned to the city, according to UN estimates. Many are from regions close to Mogadishu, such as Lower and Middle Shabelle.

Prime Minister plays down violence

But speaking in the Ghanaian capital of Accra on 3 July, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi downplayed suggestions that daily violence in Mogadishu and other areas was so serious that it might even threaten a planned national reconciliation conference in mid-July.

"I am optimistic security forces will be able to secure the capital city for the reconciliation conference," he told Reuters.

Aid workers said insecurity and violence had limited the population’s ability to survive, restricted humanitarian operations and led to increases of between 50 and 100 percent in the prices of basic necessities such as transport, water, food and non-food items.

In a situation report issued on 29 June, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said despite a curfew in the city, grenade and bomb attacks as well as assassinations had continued.

According to OCHA, 16 explosions went off in the first two nights of the curfew and on 26 June, a roadside bomb in Bakara market killed five women. The next day, two Ethiopian soldiers were killed as a military convoy hit a roadside bomb.

Local residents said many people had been caught up in daily violence. "When there is an explosion, security forces respond by firing indiscriminately and arresting anyone they can find," a source said.

Banjul (formerly Bathurst) is the capital of The Gambia. The population of the city proper is only 34,828 but the total urban area is many times larger with a population of 523,589 (2003 census). It is located on St Mary's Island (or Banjul Island) where the Gambia River enters the Atlantic Ocean. The island is connected to the mainland by passenger and vehicle ferries to the north and bridges to the south. Banjul is located at 13°28' North, 16°36' West (13.4667, -16.60).

History

In 1816, the British founded Banjul as a trading post and base for suppressing the slave trade. It was first named Bathurst after Henry Bathurst, the secretary of the British Colonial Office, but was changed to Banjul in 1973.
On July 22, 1994, Banjul was the scene of a bloodless military coup d'etat in which President Dawda Jawara was overthrown and replaced by the country's current (and twice reelected) President Yahya Jammeh. To commemorate this event, Arch 22 was built as an entrance portal to the capital. The gate is 35 meters tall and the centre of an open square. It houses a textile museum.
Attractions in the city include the Gambian National Museum, the Albert Market, Banjul State House, Banjul Court House, two cathedrals and several major mosques.

Economy

Banjul is the main urban area of The Gambia and holds the country's economic and administrative center including the Central Bank of The Gambia. As the fourth most densely populated country in Africa, The Gambia has more than one urban area. Peanut processing is the country's principal industry, but bee's wax, palm wood, palm oil, and skins and hides are also shipped from its port.