Little progress in first week of ceasefire talks

Despite the sense of urgency expressed at the opening ceremony of the ceasefire talks, the first week of discussions between the Hutu rebel groups and the Burundian transitional government ended on Thursday without much real progress having been made, officials involved in the talks said. Talks between the government and the Conseil nationale pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) of Pierre Nkurunziza, the first of the groups due at the negotiations, had been adjourned, and although there seemed to be more of an understanding between the groups and talks were taking place in "a good environment to go forward", discussions on the draft ceasefire proposal had not yet begun, they added. While an official from the Burundian embassy in Dar es Salaam said that "no progress" had been made during the week, the South African facilitators were less pessimistic on what remains to be done. "We trust that the outstanding issues will be resolved soon, to allow agreement to be reached between the two parties," Jacob Zuma, the South African deputy president and chairman of the talks, said at the end of the proceedings on Thursday. Next week, Zuma is due to facilitate the next round of negotiations, which will be between the transitional government and the CNDD-FDD group led by Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, who has expressed "preparedness and commitment to engaging in constructive negotiations". Meanwhile, it is unclear when, or even whether, discussions with Nkurunziza's faction will be completed. "As soon as they tell us to go home, we will go home, but if it is necessary to go on discussing, then we shall go on discussing," Salvator Ntacobamaza, a representative from Nkurunziza's CNDD-FDD, told reporters on Thursday. Responding to questions as to whether his group wanted to deal directly with the army, or even President Pierre Buyoya, as has been suggested recently, Ntacobamaza said: "If he [Buyoya] is a belligerent, why shouldn't we deal with him? We want to deal with real belligerents who will be able to implement the conclusions that might be taken from these discussions." However, analysts say that the question of whom the rebels should be negotiating with is "an old issue" that should have been resolved before the talks. "We have known about the rebels' wish to negotiate with army for a long time now. It is useless to create expectations by calling together parties in Dar es Salaam while there are still these issues to be resolved," an observer told IRIN on Thursday. "There is a way out," the analysts added. "Both delegations have a political and a military component, so once there is an acceptance of this, and there are agreements on their make-up, there is nothing to stop the military components from having their own talks as well." However, with only two weeks of negotiations left, time is limited for the armed groups and the government to meet the ultimatum of a ceasefire by the end of the negotiations, set by Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, and Zuma at the beginning of the week.