Refugees From Burundi Strife Flee to Tanzania
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DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Thousands of Burundian and Rwandan refugees are fleeing fighting between troops and gunmen in Burundi and pouring into northwestern Tanzania, officials said Friday.
The United Nations’ refugee agency said 24,000 had entered Tanzania in the last week. Local government officials in Tanzania put the number at more than 30,000.
Refugees reported that followers of an outlawed Hutu party were fighting a rear-guard action against the Tutsi-dominated army in northern Burundi.
Burundi has been plagued since last year by ethnic clashes and fears of mass slaughter between the Tutsi minority and Hutu majority similar to last year’s genocide in neighboring Rwanda.
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