PALIPEHUTU/FNL warns of more bloodshed

The rebel PALIPEHUTU/FNL group has called on the mediator Nelson Mandela to be more “objective” in handling the Arusha peace process and warned that unless the “intrigues” were removed from the process, there would be more bloodshed. In a letter to the mediator, a copy of which was seen by IRIN on Monday, Cossan Kabura who leads PALIPEHUTU’s armed wing Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), said he was “shocked” by Mandela’s demands that the FNL cease military operations during the Arusha talks or risk being “left behind”.

“I think menace is not the right way to make us a sign a ceasefire,” Kabura stated. He said the FNL believed the peace talks were being conducted in a way to present the movement with a “fait accompli designed to deny us a right to have a say in our country’s affairs”. “How should I be forced to sign an agreement which has been worked out in my absence and without being invited?” he said. He called on Mandela to visit FNL fighters in Burundi “as you did the Burundi government”. “We also wish that you should visit Burundian camps and settlements outside Burundi and thus be in a better position to conduct the talks in a more objective manner,” the letter stated.

“The current Arusha talks are full of intrigues which have to be removed to bring about lasting peace for all. Otherwise more innocent blood will be shed.”