Burundi: UN agencies send joint team to investigate reports of fighting in west

United Nations humanitarian agencies have rushed a joint assessment team to western Burundi following reports that civilians had fled rebel fighting in Bubanza province.

A UN spokesman in New York said today that based on the assessment, the World Food Programme (WFP) plans to deliver assistance to an estimated 15,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the town of Mubimbi early next week.

The UN office in Burundi is also looking into reports that 17 civilians, including 14 children, were killed near Cibitoke - some 40 kilometres east of the capital, Bujumbura - earlier this week. Humanitarian personnel have limited access to the area due to a high degree of instability.