Burundi peace talks stalled
2003-09-15 08:12
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - A meeting due to take place on Sunday between Burundi's president and the leader of his country's main Hutu rebel group, ahead of a regional summit on ending Burundi's long-running civil war, has been postponed, officials said.
Ndayizeye had been due to meet rebel leader Pierre Nkrurunziza on Sunday evening in Tanzania's economic capital Dar es Salaam, in an attempt to narrow differences between them before the start of the summit on Monday, which aims to revive Burundi's stalled peace process.
"There will be no meeting between the two belligerants this evening," FDD secretary general Hussein Radjabu, told reporters, adding that the talks might now take place on Monday.
The encounter between the two men has been delayed several times.
A spokesperson for the Burundian president confirmed the latest delay, adding that Ndayizeye was meeting his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni on Sunday evening in Dar es Salaam.
Museveni is to chair the regional peace summit and is due to meet the FDD leader on Monday morning.
About 300 000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in Burundi's 10-year civil war, which is continuing in parts of the country despite a ceasefire signed last year between the government and the FDD.
Before leaving Bujumbura, Ndayizeye said he was ready to make concessions to the rebels but added that the FDD, which is seeking greater participation in the army and government, would have to do the same.
Win-win
"The win-win principle must prevail, because if the talks are to succeed there must not be a loser," he said.
The regional peace summit is the latest round in a long series of negotiations aimed at reviving the moribund ceasefire signed in December between the interim Burundian government and all but one rebel group.
The latter, the National Liberation Forces (FLN), has refused all negotiations and has continued to fight government forces.
The FLN is considered relatively unimportant since it is present in only one of Burundi's 16 provinces, while Nkrurunziza's FDD covers the entire central African country.
The FDD demands numerous government and army posts, including a vice presidency, seven of 28 cabinet positions, the speaker of the national assembly and 40 percent of its seats, the army chief of staff, half the army officer corps and 40 percent of the force.
Upset ethnic balance
The government insists that giving way to the FDD's demands would upset the ethnic balance worked out in the internationally backed Arusha accords signed in 2000.
Those accords called for the Tutsi-dominated army to be split 50-50 between Tutsis and Hutus, and for posts in the government and seats in the parliament to be split 60-40 in favor of the Hutus.
Ndayizeye said the FDD appeared to want to take the entire Hutu allocation in the Arusha power-sharing agreement.
The president also notes that the assembly is supposed to be formed through direct elections.
The present interim government, installed last November, is intended to lead to free elections in three years.
The government includes the main Hutu party, the Burundi Democratic Front and the main Tutsi party, the Unity for National Progress, which alternate top posts.
The civil war sparked in Burundi after the country's first democratically elected president was assassinated in 1993.