Reaction to Buyoya-FDD meeting

Reaction to President Pierre Buyoya’s meeting with rebel leader Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye on Tuesday has been mixed. Ndayikengurukiye himself, in an interview with the BBC Kirundi service, said he believed the talks - held in Libreville, Gabon - would give an impetus to the peace process mediator, Nelson Mandela. The Libreville meeting was hosted by Gabonese President Omar Bongo and DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila. “He [Mandela] will realise that the job done by Presidents Kabila and Bongo will give him strength and help him move forward, since the Arusha talks have failed,” said Ndayikengurukiye, who leads the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces de defense pour la democratie (CNDD-FDD). He reiterated his movement’s position that the Arusha accord, signed last August, was “not useful because nothing tangible came out of it”. “We asked them [the signatories] that if they reach an agreement, if they set up institutions, if they sign something, they come to explain it all to us. We have been waiting in vain,” the FDD leader added. Domitien Ndayizeye, secretary-general of the main opposition party, FRODEBU, described the meeting as an “important step” in the peace process. He noted that the signatories to the Arusha agreement had stressed the need for the belligerents in the Burundi conflict to meet. But Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, who leads the hardline Tutsi PARENA party, said the meeting may have repercussions on the Arusha accord. “It means the Arusha talks were useless because they took place between the wrong sides,” he told the BBC. “The real negotiators were hiding.” He said he believed the peace process should begin afresh. “We took part in the talks with the aim of restoring peace...unfortunately we were not successful,” he said. “That is why everything should start all over again.”