Government delegation due for talks with rebels

A Burundian government delegation is due in the Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, late on Tuesday for talks with Hutu rebels groups on the harmonisation of their ceasefire proposals, which, observers hope, will lead to the end of the country's nine-year civil war, a diplomat in the city told IRIN.

"The [impending] arrival of the Burundi delegation has been confirmed," he said.

Ambroise Niyonsaba, adviser to Burundian President Pierre Buyoya, would lead the 14-member government delegation. It and the delegations of the two wings of the Hutu rebel Force pour la defence de la democratie will on Wednesday begin their meeting by examining each others' ceasefire proposals, with view to amalgamating them as a single document.

The diplomat said the other Hutu rebel group, the Forces nationale de liberation, had still not indicated its willingness to take part in the talks. However, he said, agreement on the ceasefire document would be followed by a regional summit to endorse the document.

The presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the prime minister of Ethiopia, and delegations from the DRC, the African Union and the European Union would most likely attend the summit, he said.