Citation
BRUSSELS, April 25 (Reuter) - Units of the Burundi army attempted a
coup early on Monday but the chief of staff had the situation under
control, Belgian radio said.
The radio said several units attempted the coup in the capital
Bujumbura around 0100 GMT and tried to rally other units. However, they
did not succeed and some had already been arrested, it said.
The radio said the interim president and government were in hiding.
Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was killed with his Rwandan
counterpart President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6 when a rocket
downed their plane at the airport in the Rwandan capital Kigali.
The Rwandan president's death plunged Rwanda into violence, with an
estimated 100,000 killed over the past two and a half weeks. Diplomats
and aid workers have said they fear an upsurge of violence in Burundi
where the security situation is worsening.
They said on Sunday a government deadline for people to hand in illegal
weapons was expected to be widely ignored and passage of the deadline
might spark fresh violence between the Tutsi-dominated military and
gunmen from the Hutu majority -- the same tribes that have plunged
Rwanda into turmoil.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
