Government, rebel group finalise talks, resolve outstanding issues

Burundi's transitional government and the country's largest rebel group, the faction of the Conseil National pour la Defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) led by Pierre Nkurunziza, finalised three days of talks on Saturday, in which they agreed on four outstanding issues from previous negotiations, an official told IRIN. "In three weeks, a government will be formed with the participation of the CNDD-FDD," Pancrace Cimpaye, the spokesman of Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye, said. He said the controversial issue of temporary immunity for CNDD-FDD combatants was solved, "but the immunity will be granted to all belligerents, rebels as well as government troops." The government and the rebel group agreed on the "technical forces agreement" on the sharing of posts in the army and the police, the transformation of the CNDD-FDD into a political party as well as its entry into the Senate, Cimpaye said. He added that a timetable for the implementation of the Pretoria deal was set up. He said that the CNDD-FDD would, in a week's time, send its representative to the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee, which was established early in 2003 and which comprises members of the government, the army and representatives of the various rebel groups in the country. A two-day regional summit expected to approve the Pretoria conclusions is scheduled to begin on 14 November in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The transitional government and the CNDD-FDD signed a power sharing agreement on 8 October in Pretoria, giving Nkurunziza's faction four ministerial positions in the government, two posts in the National Assembly and 40 percent of posts in the army and the police. In May, two smaller rebel factions of the CNDD-FDD and the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) joined the government of Ndayizeye, a Hutu who took over from Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, under a three-year transitional government arrangement provided for in the Arusha Accord for Peace and Reconciliation signed in August 2000. Government officials and those from Nkurunziza's CNDD-FDD have expressed their satisfaction at the state of improved security across the country since the signing of the October power sharing agreement. However, while fighting between the army and Nkurunziza's faction has ceased, clashes continue between the faction and the FNL group led by Agathon Rwasa and also between the army and Rwasa's fighters. Rwasa's faction has refused to enter into negotiations with the government, arguing that the negotiators had failed to tackle the "real" problems between Hutus and Tutsis.