Government, rebels begin talks on draft ceasefire document

Discussion on a draft ceasefire document between Burundi’s transitional government and two Hutu rebel groups began on Monday in the Tanzanian city Dar es Salaam, state-owned Radio Tanzania reported. Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa opened the talks, expected to last about three weeks, news organisations reported. He told delegates that the draft document would form the basis of the Burundi ceasefire negotiations. This event marks the first direct talks between the government in Bujumbura, the Force pour la defence de la democratie and the Palipehutu-Forces nationale de liberation that have been fighting for the past nine years. The war has intensified despite the power-sharing government inaugurated on 1 November 2001. Also present at the talks were the mediator in the Burundi conflict, South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma; the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Burundi, Berhanu Dinka; and the Gabonese minister-delegate to the minister of state for foreign affairs, Jean-Francois Ndoungou. Civil war erupted in Burundi in 1993 following the killing of Melchior Ndadaye, the first democratically elected president. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war that has lasted almost nine years.