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At last Burundi, Palipehutu-FNL sign ceasefire
2006-09-08 09:33:03
By Patrick Kisembo
Burundi and its last remaining rebel group, Forces for National Liberation (FNL) yesterday signed a full ceasefire seen as a crucial move toward building peace in a nation emerging from a 12-year civil war.
Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza and FNL leader Agathon Rwasa signed the deal in Dar es Salaam in the presence of South African mediators and regional leaders.
President Yoweri Museven of Uganda, the chairman of the Regional Peace Initiative called upon the people of Burundi to sustain democratic ways of resolving political differences.
He said in essence, Burundi suffered from a cast system that was fuelled by colonialists and not ethnic conflict.
’The problem that Burundi faced for many years was on job specialization, the kind of aspiration that ruined the symbiotic kind of life that brought people together,’ Museven said.
On his part President Mbeki of South Africa said the entire continent felt together in seeking lasting solution to end the suffering of the people of Burundi.
President Jakaya Kikwete expressed his gratitude to all parties that facilitated the signing of the peace agreement that allowed the opening of a new chapter in Burundi.
’The initiative was difficult and sometimes appeared impossible to reach a consensus. The agreement should mark the end of suffering endured by the people of Burundi,’
’The signing of the agreement will hopefully silence the guns,’ South African Special Envoy Kingsley Mamabolo said at the ceremony.
South Africa has been mediating talks between the FNL and Burundi since May. In June, the two sides signed an agreement to stop fighting while they negotiated, and a July deadline for a ceasefire ended without a deal.
’The process was difficult due to the nature of the conflict. There was a lot of suspicion,’ said Charles Nqakula, mediator of the Burundi Peace process.
A peace deal between FNL and the government is seen as one of the final steps toward restoring stability to the coffee-growing nation of 7 million, which suffered a civil war that began in 1993.
More than 300,000 people have died in the war sparked in 1993 by the assassination of Burundi’s first Hutu head of state and democratically-elected president, Melchior Ndadaye
Since independence in 1961, Burundi has been plagued by tension between the dominant Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority.
Nkurunziza was elected president last year under a deal aimed at ending the 13-year war.
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