Government discusses draft ceasefire document with second FDD faction

Talks between the smaller of two factions of a Hutu rebel group and the transitional government of Burundi began in earnest on Tuesday on a crucial issue that mediators hoped would lead to the end of the country’s nine year civil war, the South African facilitators told IRIN. “The two sides have been discussing the draft ceasefire agreement," Lakela Kaunda, spokeswoman for South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, told IRIN as the talks continued late in the evening. As had been scheduled, Jean Bosco Ndayikengurukiye's faction of the Hutu rebel group, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), began their talks with government under the mediation Zuma. Analysts said that the progress in the talks between these two groups, who greeted each other warmly in public, contrasted starkly with the stalemate last week between the Burundian government and Pierre Nkurunziza's faction of the FDD, which saw no progress on reaching a ceasefire. However, Kaunda said that Nkurunziza's faction was still in Dar es Salaam and would continue discussions with Zuma, who is expected to "shuttle between the two groups", to help resolve the outstanding technical issues. Without specifying exactly who would be representing the organisation, Kaunda confirmed that the second Hutu rebel group, the hard-line Palipenhutu-Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), would be attending the talks next week. A split appeared in this group on 8 August when its 30-member Higher Revolutionary Council replaced the movement’s president, Agathon Rwasa, with Alain Mugabarabona. Meanwhile, in a three-day meeting that ended on 14 August in Bujumbura, the Burundian human rights group, the Ligue de droits de la personne dans le region des Grands Lacs, said attainment of a ceasefire seemed in jeopardy because of the fragmentation within the FNL.