Last rebel faction to hold talks with president

A meeting between Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye and representatives of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) faction led by Agathon Rwasa will take place outside the country, an FNL spokesman, Pasteur Habimana, told IRIN on Tuesday. "We have already received airline tickets, but I cannot tell you the venue and date of the meeting because of security measures for our members who will participate in the talks," Habimana said. The FNL announced on Monday that it would hold its first talks with Ndayizeye in January 2004. The move represents a change of policy by the faction, the only rebel group in the country that had so far refused to enter peace negotiations with the transitional government. Ndayizeye's spokesman, Pancrace Cimpaye, told IRIN on Tuesday that the meeting would be held within two weeks, but that it was too early to tell the venue. It would be a "friendship meeting" without a mediator as the FNL representative would meet face to face with Ndayizeye, Habimana said. Monday's announcement by the FNL surprised many Burundians as the faction had all along refused to hold any talks with the government, claiming instead that it would only consider holding talks with the country's Tutsi political and military leadership. Analysts have linked FNL's change of position to the killing on 29 December of Papal Nuncio Michael Courtney, for which the faction has been blamed. The FNL has denied involvement in the killing. Habimana said the faction's decision to hold talks with Ndayizeye was not as a result of pressure from the international community. "We were not under any pressure, as people say. The head of state has several times [stated he] wished to meet us," Habimana said. "The FNL's acceptance to hold talks with the president has nothing to do with the killing of Monsignor Courtney, because we didn't kill him." Habimana added: "We agreed to talk to President Ndayizeye as a father of the nation. He said he wanted to know why the FNL is refusing negotiations with the government. This meeting will be an opportunity to explain to him why we did not join the peace process; we could not refuse his offer." In a statement read on Monday on state radio and television, the presidency described the planned FNL-Ndayizeye meeting as an important step towards peace. It said the FNL's announcement would be taken into account during a donors' forum on Burundi due to be held on 13 and 14 January in Brussels. "This should clear hesitations by the international community for it to release the aid promised to Burundi," the presidency said. Despite the planned meeting, the FNL did not announce a cessation of hostilities, and five people were killed on Monday in the eastern Bujumbura suburb of Gihosha, in attack attributed to Rwasa's FNL. However, Habimana denied FNL's responsibility for the attack. "It's really a pity to see civilians continue to pay the price of the war, but again we will not let the FDD [Forces for the Defence of Democracy rebel group] attack us," he said. "The cessation of hostilities does not depend only on FNL but on all warring parties, including the army," Habimana added.