A total of 90 former CNDD-FDD rebels were flown back to Burundi from the Congo by MONUC, to be reintegrated into society. There are no more combatants in the Congo's Katanga region and only 50 at Uvira, with 100 in south Uvira.

South Africa said that it would keep its peacekeeping forces in Burundi for as long as they were needed. South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister hoped the United Nations would ultimately take over the mission, but the UN has been reluctant to risk sending international peacekeepers to the region before there was "total peace" in the country.

FNL rebels fired mortars at Bujumbura's suburbs on the 6th, killing one person and sending dozens of others fleeing in panic. Talks between the president and the FNL ended in January without a breakthrough. About 300,000 have died in fighting between Hutu majority rebels and the Tutsi minority-dominated army over the past decade. - Adam Geibel