The secretary-general of FRODEBU, Domitien Ndayizeye, was arrested on Wednesday at Bujumbura airport as he tried to leave the country to take part in talks with the movement's head, Jean Minani, within the framework of Arusha peace process, the Great Lakes Press has reported. Quoting an authoritative source, the news agency said Ndayizeye was set to take part in high-level consultations between the mediator Julius Nyerere and the leaders of the main political groups.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church says it wants to be involved in the Arusha peace talks. Two weeks before the visit made every five years by Catholic bishops to the tombs of St Peter and St Paul in Rome, the president of the Burundi episcopal conference, Monsignor Simon Ntamwana, told journalists in Gitega that the Church wished to be represented at Arusha. He also recommended the participation of the armed gangs which had recently separated themselves from the CNDD and Palipehutu during the inter-Burundian negotiations.
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