Peace talks postponed as rebel group asks for more time

Peace talks between the transitional government in Burundi and the country's two main Hutu rebel groups have been delayed as the Forces pour la defence de la democratie (FDD) were not ready for negotiations, a Burundian official told IRIN on Thursday.

The talks, due to take place on Thursday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, have been postponed to give the larger of the two rebel groups opposing the transitional government, the FDD, more time for "material, human and psychological preparations" said Renovat Cubwa, spokesman for the Burundi Embassy in Tanzania.

"They have made it clear that they are not ready for the talks," he told IRIN. "However, they said they reaffirmed their determination and disposal to sit together with the Bujumbura government to discuss the ceasefire."

Cubwa was unable to say when the talks might be rescheduled for, or comment on the position of the other main rebel group, the Forces Nationales de Liberation (FNL).

The delay in ceasefire negotiations comes after two weeks of increased violence that has seen rebel attacks spread from the south-east of the country to an advance on the capital, Bujumbura. On Wednesday, an army spokesman said that at least 200 rebels and 12 government troops had been killed in the attacks.

The Hutu rebel groups have both refused to sign a ceasefire agreement - saying that the Burundi army is dominated by Tutsis -and have continued to fight President Pierre Buyoya's transitional government, set up on 1 November 2001. An estimated 250,000 people have died in Burundi's ethnic conflict since it erupted in 1993.