AFRICA/BURUNDI - GOVERNMENT AND MAIN REBEL GROUP MAY BE NEAR TO AGREEMENT

Bujumbura (Fides Service) – Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye and rebel leader Pierre Nkrurunziza, head of FDD, Forces for Defence of Democracy, will meet for talks on Sunday 14 September in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. “There are good chances of an agreement being reached and presented on Monday 15 September to a meeting of central African heads of state and governments ” local observers in Bujumbura tell Fides Service. “A draft agreement has already been prepared, although the details have not been disclosed. It is known, however, that persistent problems are two: disarmament, dissolving and integration into the national Burundian army of rebel armies and the return of refugees from Tanzania and Democratic Congo”.
In the meantime however fighting continues near the capital, Fides Service sources report: “In various places outside Bujumbura combat between the regular army and the other rebel group FNL National Liberation Front continues”. For years the FNL has controlled the area around Bujumbura and so far it refuses to consider peace agreements. “This group is smaller than the FDD but pugnacious” Fides Sources say. “So far the FNL has refused to join peace talks. An agreement between government and the FDD could make FNL change its mind. The smaller rebel group will certainly be interested to see what concessions FDD obtains from the government. For the FNL too the main problems are reintegration of guerrillas and formation of an army comprising all the country’s components.”
Since 1993 Burundi has been disrupted by civil war between the mainly Tutsi government army and various Hutu rebel groups. So far the conflict has cost 300,000 lives. A peace agreement was reached in 2000 in Arusha Tanzania for the formation of a transition government comprising all major parties in Burundi, rebels excluded. As established by that agreement, Burundi has been ruled for 18 months by a Tutsi president and Hutu vice president and then the following 18 months a Hutu president and Tutsi vice-president. LM (Fides Service 11/9/2003 EM lines 31 Words: 402)