FNL vows to continue fighting

The rebel Forces nationales pour la liberation (FNL) say they “will not” stop fighting until they “do away” with the “tyrannical power”. “The source of the conflict in Burundi is the tyrannical power, which does not respect human rights, and this is known by everyone,” FNL’s spokesman, Anicet Ntawuhangananayo, told IRIN on Tuesday. “Our fight is against the army, and it is to protect civilians and ourselves,” he said. “[The] Burundi army is killing civilians. If we stop the war now, we would have accepted what they are doing,” he added. According to Ntawuhangananayo, FNL is for the peace process, “but we are against some dishonest people in the negotiation table”.

“Some negotiators are defending their interests and not those of the whole country,” he said. “Political parties, the government in the country are not honest,” he said. “Otherwise, we are for the peace process. We cannot refuse dialogue between Burundians,” he said. Some of their areas of operations have been Bujumbura Rural, Bubanza, Cibitoke (northwest) and Gitega (central). He said some FNL officials have in the last three to four months been invited to hold talks with South Africa’s deputy president, Jacob Zuma. He said the group had not been invited to the peace talks. Early this week, government officials told IRIN that the government now had no option other than to fight the rebels. They said even as the dialogue went on, they would have to fight since that was what the rebels preferred.