Billeting of former rebels to begin this week

The billeting of rebel fighters will begin on 31 December, when a ceasefire is due to come into effect, Burundi President Paul Buyoya said on Tuesday. However, he told reporters on arrival in the capital, Bujumbura, after signing a ceasefire accord in Arusha, Tanzania, with the Burundian main rebel group, that a joint ceasefire commission had not yet decided on the location of the camps where the former rebels would be billeted. He added that the regional summit had not identified any organisation or country to participate in the exercise. "We spoke about the African mission, because if the CNDD-FDD [Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie] fighters stay armed in the cantonment zones they could make it difficult for the UN to intervene. That's why we spoke about the African mission, and this is what we intend to discuss very soon," he said. Burundi's transitional government signed the accord with the CNDD-FDD of Pierre Nkurunziza in the hope of bringing the nine-year civil war to an end. However, the smaller Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) rebels refused to become party to the deal, and now risk the imposition of sanctions. The US State Department said on Tuesday that the US would "support sanctions against the lone holdout rebel group". UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, France, Russia and the United States have described the accord as "a significant step" towards peace, with Paris and Washington calling on the FNL of Agathon Rwasa to join the peace effort. In a statement made available to reporters, a US State Department spokesman, Philip Reeker, called on the group to "get in the game" and consider what was best for its members and the rest of their countrymen. [Full terms of ceasefire agreement (French only) on http//www.burundi.gov.bi/actu/nouvelles.htm]