FNL commander sets out peace conditions

The military commander of the rebel FNL, the armed wing of the PALIPEHUTU party, has outlined that the government must return the army to barracks, dismantle loyalist militias and the controversial civilian regroupment camps, and free political prisoners if it wants peace. “Government troops still have illusions they can totally defeat us and negotiate from a position of strength but they have failed to kick out our troops from their positions in Bujumbura Rural and elsewhere...These are what we will demand before we sign any ceasefire agreement,” the commander, Rwasa Agathon, told Reuters news agency in an interview in Bujumbura Rural. Agathon also denied that the FNL had been fighting, and even enlisting, elements of Rwanda’s Interahamwe militia, saying that there were “no foreigners” in its ranks.