Burundian Rebels Seize Hundreds of Students

BUJUMBURA, Burundi —  Burundian rebels kidnapped 250 to 300 male students from their boarding school Friday in what appeared to be a raid to press-gang them into the guerrillas’ eight-year battle against the Tutsi-dominated army.

The ethnic Hutu rebels sprayed gunfire and set fire to the Musema school’s library, living areas and director’s office before leaving with all the male students, local government administrator Come Hatungimana said. Four managed to flee.

It was the second mass abduction this week.

“It seems that they are headed toward Kibira forest,” Hatungimana said from Kayanza province in northwestern Burundi. “I think the rebels want to recruit them into the rebellion. People from all corners of the district fled as the rebels were shooting everywhere.”

Policarp Ntakarutimana, 18, was one of the few who escaped. He said the rebels woke the students from their dormitory beds before dawn and took their valuables.

“They told us we had to follow them because they too had abandoned school” to join the rebellion, he said. “Some of them I recognized because we had studied together and shared school meals at the same table. One knew me and said, ‘I’m glad you are with us now; let’s go to the forest together.’ ”

He said there were about 400 rebels, old and young. They had not hurt the students, mostly Hutus between the ages of 18 and 25, but had threatened to shoot them if they tried to escape.

“We were approaching some hills when the military started shooting,” he said. “The rebels were shooting back, and I used this to run away because I was afraid.”

The army was already hunting for about 50 teenage schoolboys and several teachers abducted Tuesday from a primary school in Ruyigi province, about 50 miles east of Bujumbura.