126 HUTU REFUGEES KILLED : BURUNDIAN ARMY ACKNOWLEDGES INCIDENT.

Byline: Associated Press

Burundian soldiers shot and killed 126 Burundian Hutu refugees trying to break out of a holding camp in northeastern Burundi, an army spokesman acknowledged Saturday.

Lt. Col. Isaie Nibizi said seven soldiers had been arrested for the slayings. Tanzanian police had expelled the refugees from neighboring Tanzania on Friday.

The Tutsi-led Burundian army rarely acknowledges such incidents. It was not clear whether those killed were armed, but Nibizi said the soldiers had assumed the 126 people were rebels.

The refugees had apparently been expelled from Tanzania because of violent clashes between supporters of two rival Hutu groups.

Before word of the killings emerged, Hitoshi Mise, U.N. refugee agency spokesman in Burundi, said he would be looking into the expulsion.

He said dozens of refugees trekked into the northeastern Burundi town of Muyinga on Friday. Last week, Tanzanian police expelled 48 Burundian refugees.

The U.N. refugee agency said there are some 112,000 Burundians in seven camps in the Ngara region of northwestern Tanzania. Most of them are Hutus who fled

fighting in Burundi between the country's Tutsi-led army and Hutu rebels. The Burundian government says Hutu rebels hide out in the refugee camps, using them as a base.Lt. Col. Sylvestre Nimubona, commander of the 4th military region in northeastern Burundi, claimed on independent radio Studio Ijambo Saturday that the Tanzanians had allowed rebel Hutus to remain in the camps but forced out other Burundians.

Nimubona said this demonstrated the government's claim that Tanzania is harboring the Hutu rebels intent on overthrowing Burundi's military leader Maj. Pierre Buyoya and the Tutsi-led army.

Buyoya on Saturday hinted at the possibility of talks with Hutu rebels.

``Soon, we will organize the first peace conference, whose main concern will be to associate all Burundians at home and abroad to enrich the political dialogue,'' Buyoya said in a message broadcast on state and independent radio. ``With such an opening, even those who have taken the path that leads nowhere will have the chance to participate.''