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KIGALI, Nov 25 (AFP) - The funeral of Burundi's murdered president Melchior Ndadaye has been postponed from November 29 to December 6 because of continuing insecurity in the country, Health Minister Jean Minani said here Thursday.
"Security does not appear to have been restored," said Minani, who has been working from neighbouring Rwanda since the October 21 coup attempt in which Ndadaye, Burundi's first president from the Hutu majority, and several of his aides were assassinated by rebels in the Tutsi-dominated army.
The coup was followed by ethnic massacres between Hutus and Tutsis, which left tens of thousands of dead, according to relief officials, though the exact figure may never be known. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the country.
Minani said reports of trouble were still coming from Burundi's provinces and the suburbs of the capital, Bujumbura. The government there had informed him Wednesday that the governor of the northern Kirundo province was thought to have been assassinated, he added.
It was not possible Thursday to reach officials in Bujumbura for comment because of telecommunications problems.
Ndadaye is due to be buried, after a period of national mourning, with six others killed in the coup bid, including the minister of territorial adminstration Juvenal Ndayikeza and national assembly speaker Pontien Karibwami.
The government of Prime Minister Sylvie Kinigi has sought to reestablish its authority after emerging from hiding in foreign embassies since the coup, but ministers have expressed fears of further violence.
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