CNDD asks for 24 more days

The rebel Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD) has requested for 24 more days for the negotiators in the Burundi conflict to try and solve pending problems. The British Broadcasting Corporation-Kirundi service (BBC-Kirundi) quoted a CNDD letter addressed to the Burundi talks mediator, Nelson Mandela, as saying that there were still problems which could find answers if the negotiators were given 24 days to hold continuous discussions, starting with the ceasefire. "This is the main issue," it quoted CNDD spokesman Jean-Marie Sindayigaya as saying.

"We should explain in detail how the war will stop. Everybody has been saying that the war should stop but nobody has said how it will be stopped," he noted. "The most important thing is not those institutional posts, the main issue is security in the country," he said. "Bringing about security means first discussing how the army will be reformed and how the ceasefire will be effected in several steps. There has not been any agreement on the steps," he added.