Former rebel leader returns to Bujumbura

The leader of the former rebel Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), Pierre Nkurunziza, arrived in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura, on Saturday, for the first time since war broke out in 1993 between the then government, dominated by members of the Tutsi minority, and rebel groups made up predominantly of majority Hutus. Nkurunziza was appointed minister of state for good governance in the transitional government of President Domitien Ndayizeye after a cabinet reshuffle on 23 November. He arrived in Bujumbura accompanied by CNDD-FDD Secretary-General Hussein Radjabu and 10 other officers who are to take up positions in the army and the police. The cabinet reshuffle to accommodate the CNDD-FDD was in accordance with a power-sharing agreement signed by the transitional government and the CNDD-FDD in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Under the agreement, the CNDD-FDD will also get 40 percent of posts in the army staff and 35 percent in the police. It will have two posts in the bureau of the parliament and will be represented by 15 members of parliament. Some 20 CNDD-FDD officers and 100 political leaders have officially returned to Bujumbura in the past week. "I ask forgiveness from all Burundians for the sufferings they have undergone during 10 years of war," Nkurunziza told a news conference. "CNDD-FDD has been forced to enter into war, but it will never accept another bloodshed." Nkurunziza said that the CNDD-FDD, which would soon be transformed into a political party, was already thinking about elections scheduled for November 2004 - the expiry date of the mandate of the transitional government. "Elections are possible even before the end of the setting up of new defence and security forces. We should let people elect their own leaders, democracy is a unique way of achieving lasting peace", he said. The three-year transitional government was established following the signing by 19 Burundian parties of the Arusha Accord for Peace and Reconciliation on 28 August 2000, which allowed for two 18-month phases under which the country would be led by a Tutsi and a Hutu respectively. Nkurunziza said that he would help to bring to the negotiating table the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), a rebel faction that continues to reject negotiations. "The FNL says it wants negotiations with Tutsis, I will help them to do so, but they have to say which category of Tutsis they need to talk to," he said. "However, the FNL must understand that everything has a beginning and an end, and the only solution for everybody's claims is the negotiating table." The FNL has stated that it wants to hold talks with various Tutsi leaders, specifically those who have dominated the army and government during the past 10 years of war.