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Burundi pleads for support
26/04/2008 19:22 - (SA)
Bujumbura - Burundi appealed on Friday to the international community and neighbouring countries for help in its fight against rebels blamed for bloody clashes with the government last week.
"We call out to the international community and above all to leaders involved in the regional initiative for peace in Burundi to get to work, to take appropriate measures," said President Pierre Nkurunziza, who also congratulated government forces for their intervention in the strife.
Last Thursday FNL insurgents launched an offensive on the capital Bujumbura and four western provinces that has left at least 38 people dead, including two civilians, official sources in Bujumbura said Thursday.
The FNL itself asked the international community on Thursday to pressure the government to end the clashes.
"We want negotations worthy of the name to begin, we want the government to grant us immunity so that the JVMM (Joint Verification Monitoring Mechanism meeting for a ceasefire) can begin," a rebel source said. "There's no other choice."
In response the government recalled that rebels were given immunity in 2006, when both sides signed a ceasefire deal in 2006, which has yet to come into effect. It called on the FLN to revert to the terms of that deal.
"The Burundian government remains convinced that putting this accord into action is the only way for Burundians to have lasting peace," Nkurunziza said.
The rebels are demanding talks on political and military power-sharing, while Bujumbura insists there is nothing more to talk about.
The central African country is still barely recovering from the aftermath of a civil war that started in 1993 and claimed 300 000 lives.
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