Burundi rebels, government hold talks in Tanzania

By Lenny Majigo

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Long-delayed peace talks between
Burundi’s government and its last rebel group started in
Tanzania on Monday, with calls for the rebels to agree to join
President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government.

“The decision as to how you end the conflict is yours,”
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said in comments directed at
Hutu Forces for National Liberation (FNL) rebels at the start
of the talks.

“You may choose to take the path to triumphalism, or you
can choose to recognize the need for an inclusive peace.”

Burundi, backed by African governments and the
international community, has said the FNL must follow the
country’s U.N.- backed peace plan to end 12 years of conflict
that killed 300,000 people in ethnic clashes.

That would mean the rebels, like other insurgents who have
signed the deal, joining the new army and police force. The FNL
has refused, saying it will not have a position forced upon it.

Interior and Public Security Minister Evariste Ndayishimiye
said he hoped the talks would find a way of incorporating the
FNL into Burundi’s leadership.

“We have a formula of integration. Now we have come here to
talk about how to bring … FNL to the Burundi leadership,”
Ndayishimiye said.

DIVISIONS

FNL leader Agathon Rwasa said the talks on Monday were
meant to prepare an agenda for another meeting set for next
week.

“So far we have not reached any agreement. Our discussion
was on setting out modalities of officially starting
negotiations next Monday here in Dar es Salaam,” he said.

Rwasa said he had doubts over whether the government would
implement any resolutions from the talks. “We have been told
that a special committee will represent President Nkurunziza.
This might frustrate implementation of what will be agreed.”

Nkurunziza, a former Hutu rebel leader, was elected in
August under the peace plan, viewed as an African solution for
stability in the nation of 7 million.

Rwasa and his top deputies have been in Dar es Salaam for
nearly three months.

The FNL said late last week it would accept a South African
mediator, dropping an objection in earlier talks that led
neighboring Tanzania to assume that role behind the scenes.

South African Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula,
who is leading the talks, said the government and the rebels
had “slightly changed their views” enabling the talks to
proceed.

Nqakula said that when he visited Uganda, Tanzania and
Burundi three weeks ago, the leaders there had expressed the
view that “peace for Burundi had become an urgent matter.”

Despite peace overtures, Burundi’s army still pursues the
FNL. Last week they killed 10 rebels in helicopter raids on the
remote Kibira forest in the northwest of the tea- and
coffee-growing country.