Fighting between Hutu rebels and government troops in Bujumbura has killed at least 32 people, casting a shadow over a summit Monday of African leaders of state on the peace process in Burundi.
Sporadic automatic arms fire could be heard on Monday morning from the Burundian capital's northwestern Kinama suburb, which had been sealed off by the army, dominated by the Tutsi minority.
Reports from witnesses and military sources said at least 32 people have died since a main Hutu rebel group attacked Kinama with rockets and mortars late on Saturday.
The rebels early Monday claimed to be in control of the suburb, but this could not be independently confirmed.
The aim of the summit in Arusha, Tanzania, is to thrash out a list of people to lead a 30-month transition government in Burundi on the basis of an accord reached last August to end a civil war which began in 1993.
South African former president Nelson Mandela is spearheading mediation efforts and has been seeking to draw rebel leaders into the agreement.
Five African heads of state had gathered in Arusha on Monday morning, including Burundi's Pierre Buyoya and the leaders of Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The attack by the National Liberation Forces (FNL) followed a leadership crisis within the group between supporters of peace talks with the government and those opposed to any dialogue.
Army spokesman Colonel Longin Minani said the bodies of 10 rebel soldiers had been found.
In addition to the reported rebel deaths, 16 civilians -- among them a father and his child -- a policeman, and five soldiers have died, local reports said.
In Arusha on Monday, Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi said: "Today, they (the rebels and the government) must agree on all the things that are needed to make the people of Burundi live happily and look forward confidently to the future."
"There must be a ceasefire completely and I believe there should have been a ceasefire before discussing these things," he added.
The two main rebel movements were not among the 19 political groups which last August signed a Peace and Reconciliation Agreement in Arusha.
FNL rebels launched the assault on government forces late Saturday and rapidly seized control of Kinama, witnesses who fled the fighting said.
Rebels occupied all military positions in Kinama, gutted the area's main administrative office and set up their own headquarters, added the witnesses.
Kinama "is still in our hands", FNL spokesman Anicet Ntawuhiganayo told AFP by telephone on Monday.
"We've already retaken a large part of the (Kinama) quarter," army spokesman Minani said in response.
The nearby neighborhood of Kamenge, which had been sealed off Sunday after rebel rocket and mortar attacks, was opened again early Monday.
Rebels also reportedly attacked the quarters of Cibitoke and Ngagara.
Early Monday, many districts around Kinama were emptying out as residents fled their homes, an AFP correspondent on the scene said.
But local administrative officials appealed to residents to stay in their neighborhoods and not to flee.
Several residents said that barricades officials had thrown up in the predominantly Hutu neighborhood of Kamenge prevented the population from leaving.
Residents had only begun building new houses in Kinama -- deserted since 1995 -- in the last two years. The district was destroyed following clashes between the Burundian army and rebel forces -- BUJUMBURA (AFP)
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