FDD leader denies troops in DRC, Tanzania

Rebel FDD leader Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye has called on the
international community to put more pressure on President Pierre Buyoya to dismantle the regroupment camps in Burundi. Speaking to IRIN by satellite phone "from the battlefield" on Friday, he said he hoped Mandela "would do everything" during his visit to bring about the dismantlement of camps and the release of political prisoners - the FDD's conditions for attending the next round of Arusha peace talks. Ndayikengurukiye said he
was waiting to be briefed by Mandela before announcing whether the FDD would participate in the next session. Burundi army and rebel leaders are scheduled to meet Mandela in Johannesburg next month. The FDD leader said he had "more than 300,000 fighters", but denied that any of them were operating from neighbouring DRC or Tanzania, claiming such reports were "propaganda". "We have no troops there and we never will," he said. "Our
war is in Burundi." Independent observers have reported that the FDD is fighting alongside the troops of President Laurent-Desire Kabila in Congo and there have been widespread reports of FDD attacks launched from Tanzania.