PALIPEHUTU denies links with FDD, calls for united force

Burundi’s rebel group, PALIPEHUTU, has denied having any links with another rebel movement, the CNDD-FDD faction. In a press statement, received on Monday by IRIN, it said its armed wing, the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), was not fighting alongside the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD). “There are no negotiations or collaborations between PALIPEHUTU and CNDD-FDD,” the statement stressed. It claimed “only the FNL” was fighting the army in the provinces of Cibitoke, Bubanza, Bujumbura Rural and Ruyigi. “CNDD [FDD] should stop taking the credit for fighting carried out by the FNL, as the FDD are nowhere on the ground,” the statement said. “It [CNDD-FDD] should also stop claiming other people’s successes as its own.” In the statement, PALIPEHUTU, which forms part of a rebel umbrella group Union nationale de liberation (ULINA), announced the formation of a “single liberation movement”, the Forces de liberation nationale (FALINA). It urged all “peace-loving Burundians” to unite together in ULINA, and to bring together their fighting forces. Finally, as PALIPEHUTU had not been invited to the Arusha peace talks, it “reserved the right to continue the armed struggle”, the statement said.