FDD sticks to its demands

The rebel Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) on Wednesday said the group had not waived its conditions for taking part in the Arusha peace process. In an interview with the Arusha-based Internews service, FDD spokesman Jerome Ndiho said the movement still insisted on the dismantling of the regroupment camps and the release of political prisoners. He said the facilitator, Nelson Mandela, had assured FDD leader Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye that he would “do his best to ensure these conditions are met”. “We hope that we will, as soon as possible, get the draft compromise,” Ndiho said. “We will look at it line by line, and see if it is in accordance with the 1992 constitution. If it is different from what the people decided their right to be, we will refuse.” He added that FDD was not ready to “let go of our target and our aim”.

Meanwhile, the mainstream rebel Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD) - from which the FDD split in 1998 - affirmed it had no problem with the FDD’s participation in the Arusha process. “We are not worried about them coming,” said CNDD spokesman Jean-Marie Sindayigaya. “When we started CNDD we were together and we agree on the main issues.”