Rebels, Gov't resume ceasefire negotiations

Mediators in the ceasefire negotiations between the Burundi government and the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) rebel group said on Tuesday talks had restarted but were reluctant to comment on the direction they were taking for fear of jeopardising the outcome. "What I can tell you is that the delegates are still negotiating," Dineo Khama, an official of the South African-led mediation team, told IRIN. The negotiations resumed on Monday after being stalled for more than a week to facilitate consultations among stakeholders. The Burundian government delegation also declined to comment in order not to jeopardise the talks. However, FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana said the government delegation had rejected some of his group's proposals. "These people are rigid, especially when you touch [on] matters relating to the army. We are going on well regarding several issues, but not in areas where the army is involved," he said. The ceasefire talks are crucial for Burundi's stability as it emerges from 13 years of civil war. A ceasefire agreement would finally end the conflict that has claimed at least 300,000 lives and caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Conflict between Hutus and Tutsis erupted in 1993 after the assassination of the country's first democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, a member of the Hutu majority. Paratroopers of the then-minority, Tutsi-dominated army allegedly killed Ndadaye. Since then, Burundi has been mired in civil strife. Fighting between the army and the FNL continues even after the August 2005 election of President Pierre Nkurunziza, former leader of the main Hutu rebel movement, the Conseil national pour la défense de la democratie-Forces pour la défense de la democratie, which has since become a political party. The negotiations with the FNL had been due to resume last week, after a week-long suspension called by South Africa, but failed to do so, with both sides holding to their initial positions. The FNL had been under international pressure to drop a demand for the dissolution, or at least major reform, of the army, which the government says should not be an issue in discussions to secure a truce. The talks resumed upon the arrival in Dar es Salaam of the lead mediator, South African Security Minister Charles Nqakula, who had called the week-long break after the two sides failed to meet a self-imposed 2 July deadline for a permanent truce. After reaching a temporary peace agreement on 18 June, the two sides had given themselves two weeks to finalise it and pave the way for formal ceasefire negotiations but as the talks foundered hostilities continued. jk/js/mw/os