GTZ begins food distribution to former rebels

The German technical cooperation agency, Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit(GTZ), has begun distributing food aid to former rebels of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD). "Eleven tonnes of rice, beans, flour, sugar, salt and cooking oil have been distributed," said a GTZ official, who asked not to be identified. The month-long distribution effort, which began on Sunday, is targeting 14,000 former fighters in Kayange of the Musigati Commune within the Kibira Forest of northwestern Bubanza Province, the CNDD-FDD’s stronghold. A technical commission meeting of representatives of the UN and the African Union missions in Burundi, the government, and the CNDD-FDD rebels took place on Monday in Bubanza to discuss food distribution to the former fighters. "Unbelievable but true," Leonce Ngendakumana, a former speaker of the National Assembly, told IRIN on Monday. "This is a sign that the government and the rebels are committed to the ceasefire agreement they signed on 2 December. This is a sign that everything is possible now." The EC decided last week to supply the CNDD-FDD members, "whose living conditions have deteriorated since the ceasefire agreement", with food aid worth 500,000 euros (US $521,400). It said in a communique that it had taken the "special measure" so that "the weapons of thousands of hungry men should not lead to violence and thereby endanger the peace process". The ceasefire agreement signed between the CNDD-FDD and the transitional government is due to come into effect on Tuesday with the deployment of an African force and the confinement of rebels in known locations. However, the confinement zones have not yet been determined, nor the African force deployed.