Government, rebels to meet

The Burundi government and the country’s two most active rebel groups would meet shortly in South Africa, AFP quoted Burundi’s foreign minister, Severin Ntahomvukiye, as saying on Thursday. “In recent days in Pretoria there have been separate meetings between the South African government and the most important armed groups - Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) and Forces nationale de liberation (FNL),” he said. “Then it is envisaged to organise a tripartite meeting with the government, the FNL and FDD,” he said, but did not specify a possible date for the meeting.

Direct encounters have not been possible before because of the Burundi government’s insistence that a ceasefire commitment precede any direct talks on the one hand and the rebels’ preconditions regarding the release of political prisoners and the closure of regroupment camps on the other hand. Although 19 Burundian parties signed an accord on 28 August aimed at ending the war in the country, fighting has continued. The accord provides for regional heads of state to impose sanctions on any group that continues to resort to violence.

According to Ntahomvukiye, it is also a fact that these sanctions will have limited effects on “armed gangs which have no fixed address and [are] without faith”. “At the practical level, it would be better to give the maximum of chances to the ongoing initiative undertaken by Nelson Mandela with the assistance of his country, South Africa, to convince armed groups to join the peace process,” Burundi radio quoted the minister as saying. “We believe that this is the best way to act instead of taking sanctions, which may not work against groups, which are difficult to get hold of,” he added.