Two more parties sign accord

Two more minority Tutsi parties have signed the accord since Monday bringing to 15 the total number of signatories out of the 19 political groups represented in Arusha. Four of the Group of Ten (G-10) predominantly Tutsi political parties, however, are still refusing to sign. These are: the Ralliement pour la democratie et le development economique et social (RADDES), Partie independent des travailleurs (PIT), Parti social democratie (PSD) and Alliance nationale pour le droit et le development economique (ANADDE). “We are not going to sign until the terrorists stop killing our people,” RADDES President Joseph Nzeyimana told IRIN on Tuesday. The two Tutsi parties which signed the deal on Tuesday are the Parti pour la Reconciliation du peuple (PRP) and the Alliance des Vaillants (Ave-Intwari). The other parties which did sign the accord did so with reservations and after enormous pressure from talks mediator Nelson Mandela and US President Bill Clinton. “Presidents Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni together with the South African Vice-President Jacob Zuma convinced us to sign if necessary with reservations and we agreed,” the president of INKIZO, Alponse Rugambarara, told IRIN. All six Tutsi parties have signed with reservations. “Signing with reservations means that there is room for further negotiations. What was worrying was to commit ourselves to something we cannot change,” PRP President Mathias Hitimana told IRIN. However, a senior official of the facilitation team, headed by the former South Africa president Mandela, told IRIN that by signing the parties had technically committed themselves to the agreement, “Now they have no way out,” the official told IRIN.