Government warns attacks may harm peace process

A separate government statement, received by IRIN on Wednesday, condemned the "barbarous and vile acts" which "threaten to torpedo the peace process just when the Arusha negotiations have entered a decisive phase". The statement stressed the government's determination to do everything to protect and defend the Burundi people. "The government will not let itself
be sidetracked from the search for peace," the statement, signed by government spokesman Luc Rukingama, said. "It is essential that these continuing atrocities, which are a hindrance to the inter-Burundian negotiations, should stop." The statement urged the international community to condemn the attacks.

Army spokesman Colonel Longin Minani, meanwhile, told IRIN he could not confirm reports that military officers and rebel representatives were to have face-to-face talks in Johannesburg next month. Press reports said the two sides would meet in the South African city, after scheduled meetings with the facilitator, Nelson Mandela.