Committee calls on FDD, FNL to join peace process

At the end of a meeting in Brussels on Monday, the Committee of Ministers (CM) of Europe called on the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) and the Forces nationales pour la liberation (FNL) to “immediately and unconditionally cease hostilities” and urged both parties to participate in the peace process and to negotiate a ceasefire, according to the Burundian Net Press news agency.

Noting that it was “deeply worried by the current blockage of the peace process in Burundi”, as well as by the continuation of violence and by the humanitarian situation, the CM invited all signatories to the Arusha accord to “cooperate in a spirit of compromise and national unity for the peaceful resolution of the armed conflict” and for the reconstruction and development of Burundi. The CM also called on all governments of the region to “immediately cease all direct and indirect forms of assistance to and cooperation with armed groups, and to put pressure on such groups to join the peace process.”