Three Tutsi parties sign peace accord

Three pro-Tutsi parties, which did not sign the 28 August Burundi peace agreement in Arusha, put their signatures to the document in Nairobi on Wednesday. The three - ANADDE, PIT and RADDES - signed the document “with reservations”, sources attending the ceremony told IRIN. Before signing, they read a statement asking regional heads of state participating in the Nairobi meeting to force the rebels to declare a cessation of hostilities.

The three had indicated to the facilitation team after the 28 August event that they would sign, and had sought more time to study the document. However, the main rebel armed groups, PALIPEHUTU-FNL and Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD), did not sign. FDD leader Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye did not show up and sent representatives instead. However, the heads of state refused to meet the representatives. PALIPEHUTU-FNL leader Cossan Kabura was in Nairobi and had a closed-door meeting regional heads of state.

In a recent interview with IRIN, the leader of RADDES, Joseph Nzeyimana, had expressed anger that his party had hitherto been excluded from the peace process, stating that a ceasefire should be in place before RADDES signed the accord. “Rebels who are outside the country refused to sign the agreement,” he said. “We want them to come to the negotiating table to declare a ceasefire. Then we shall sign. They are armed rebels and we are political rebels.” At the time, he warned that if the mediator ignored the parties that did not sign there would be “a Sierra Leone type of agreement”.