The mediator died just when his services were most needed
The loss of Tanzania's Julius Nyerere on 14 October coincided with a serious worsening of Burundi's internal conflict. Since 18 August, when they made several raids on the capital, Bujumbura, rebel forces have kept up the pressure in the surrounding district (AC Vol 40 No 18). Dozens of people, most of them civilians, have died in ambushes and as a result of retaliation by government forces. The rebels have used rocket-launchers on the road south towards Rumonge; in the south, guerrillas have infiltrated from Tanzania; fighting in the east, at Giteranyi, had driven 15,000 refugees into Tanzania by mid-October.
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