Burundi in bid to end hostilities
 
2005-05-22 08:08:38
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	President Benjamin Mkapa and Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Minister,Jakaya Kikwete(second R)witness the first hands shake between Burundi Interim Government,President Domitien Ndayizeye(L)and the rebel leader of PALIPEHUTU-FNL.

Burundi has taken another big step towards ending the country's twelve year long civil war.

The last rebel group to remain outside the country’s peace process, the extremist Hutu Forces for National Liberation(FNL)-Palipehutu, has declared an end to hostilities.

The milestone came after last Sunday’s first direct talks between Burundi's President Domitien Ndayizeye and the leader of the FNL Agathon Rwassa who signed a cessation of hostilities pact and agreed to start negotiations on a permanent end to all hostilities.

We are determined to seek peace', said Rwassa, whose group has been regarded as a terrorist organization by leaders of the Great Lakes Region.

He added: 'If during the process any problem occurs we will thoroughly discuss it and if consensus fails we will ask for mediation' in order to keep the peace process.

On his part President Ndayizeye told journalists that: 'The first priority is a cessation of hostilities then we shall pursue a ceasefire' and that he expected formal peace talks with the FNL to begin within the next month.

Burundian Foreign Minister Therence Sinunguruza said the two sides would set up a technical committee in less than one month to decide how to bring about a permanent ceasefire, and both sides would start talks 'very soon' on bringing the FNL into the peace process.

The two bitter rivals in Burundi’s protracted civil war were brought together by President Benjamin Mkapa who at the start of the talks made a passionate appeal to the warring factions to seize the opportunity to engage in constructive talks that may bring back hope and sustainable peace in the Great Lakes Region.

He expressed hope that the talks would be conducted in a transparent manner, trust and respect for each other, thus, pave the way for a ceasefire.

'I am asking you to start the talks in the spirit of trusting each other, giving priority to aspirations of your people who want peace. I hope that the goal is attainable,' President Mkapa said.

Mkapa said the Tanzanian Government’s decision to bring the two sides to the neogotiation table received blessings from the Summit of the Heads of State of the Great Lakes Region held in Uganda on 21st of last month.

Both President Ndayizeye and Rwassa thanked President Mkapa for creating an enabling environment for them to meet face to face after many years of fruitless attempts.

A few days before the talks in Dar es Salaam President Ndayizeye named Jean-Marie Ngendahayo, a Tutsi, new Interior Minister to remove a major obstacle to the peace process in Burundi.

President Ndayizeye backed down after originally saying the post was reserved for a Hutu.

Under a 2003 power sharing deal to end Burundi’s 12-year civil war 60 per cent of Cabinet Ministers are reserved for Hutus and 40 per cent for Tutsis.

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, mediator of the Burundian conflict, is said to have played a key role to make President Ndayizeye back down to name the Tutsi to the new Interior Minister.

Political analysts say the latest truce between President Ndayizeye and the FNL leader Mr. Rawassa is yet another confirmation that Burundi, a nation of seven million people, is slowly emerging from 12 years of war pitting majority Hutus against the politically dominant Tutsi minority.

The truce has been welcome both in and outside the country.

The main Hutu rebel group in Burundi, Forces for the Defence of Democracy, FDD, which agreed to join the transitional government in 2003 said the truce will strengthen the credibility of parliamentary and presidential elections due in August when the country’s transitional government is due to hand power to an elected administration.

The polls to be held on August 19 follow a referendum early this year which approved a constitution designed to share power between Hutus and Tutsis.

The elections are meant to create a government that guarantees Hutu majority rule and Tutsi representation under the Arusha Peace Accord.

The government in Bujumbura broke off all contacts with the FNL-Palipehutu rebel group after the rebels said they were responsible for the massacre of more than 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a refugee camp in west Burundi.

Since the massacre, regional countries, that shepherded Burundi’s peace process have dubbed the FNL a terrorist organization leading to pressure on it to join other rebel groups in the country’s peace process for the benefit of the whole Great Lakes Region.

Peace hopes in Burundi rose in January 2004 when President Ndayizeye met FNL officials – excluding Mr. Rwassa – in Amsterdam and agreed on the need to stop violence and help create a climate for peace.

On 28 February 2005 Burundi held its first democratic poll in 12 years, a referendum that saw a new constitution approved.

The FNL honoured an accord not to disrupt the polls but has since been blamed for sporadic attacks, prompting the national army to hunt the rebels in their strongholds near the capital.

Some 250,000 people have died during the civil war in Burundi, which saw Hutu rebels fighting for a greater share of power from the Tutsi minority which has traditionally ruled the Central African country.

The new agreement and recent resumption of contacts between the government and the FNL-Palipehutu raised hopes that Burundi can now overcome one of its final obstacles to peace.

Burundi\'s Independent Electoral Commission , or CENI, has announced measures to ensure the scheduled general elections in the country to end Burundi's 45-month transitional phase to democratic rule, are conducted in a free and fair atmosphere.

'Every voter must have an identity card and a voter’s card,' Astere Kana, the CENI spokesman, said at a news conference in the capital, Bujumbura, adding that the measures would also ensure that no fraudulent activity takes place during the series of elections, scheduled to start with communal elections on June 3 to the presidential poll on August 19.

• SOURCE: Sunday Observer