Zuma expected in Dar es Salaam for ceasefire talks

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma is due to arrive in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Monday to attend the resumption of ceasefire talks between Burundi's two rebel factions and that country's transitional government, officials close to the negotiations have told IRIN.

One official said the meeting was likely to open on Tuesday. Delegates of the Burundian government and Agathon Rwasa's wing of the opposition Force nationale de liberation (FNL) are already in Dar es Salaam. But Radio Tanzania reported on Sunday that Pierre Nkurunziza's faction of the Conseil nationale pour la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), the other rebel group, had pulled out of the talks because the Burundi army had recently killed 173 people in Gitega Province, southeastern Burundi. However, it remained unclear on Monday whether or not Nkurunziza's faction would take part.

"The FDD is also around," an official close to the negotiations, told IRIN.

Two other factions of these rebel groups - the FNL wing led by Alain Mugabarabona and the CNDD-FDD faction led by Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye - signed the ceasefire agreement on 7 October, during the Great Lakes summit on Burundi. That summit told the Nkurunziza and Rwasa factions to resume substantive ceasefire negotiations within 30 days, at the highest level, or face the consequences.