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Burundi rebels to return home
14/05/2008 12:30 - (SA)
Patrick Nduwimana
Bujumbura - Exiled leaders of Burundi's last active rebel group will return home this week to implement a long awaited peace deal to end a civil conflict that has killed 300 000 people, a rebel spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The persistent insurgency by the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), an ethnic Hutu guerrilla group, is seen by many as the final barrier to lasting stability in the tiny central African country of eight million.
"If there is no change, we will be in Burundi on Friday," FNL spokesperson Pasteur Habimana told Reuters by telephone from Dar Es Salaam.
Corruption and rights abuses
He said the rebels were ready to go on Wednesday, but were told by mediators that an aircraft would only be available on Friday.
Habimana said FNL leader Agathon Rwasa, based in Tanzania, would not be among the group of 12 people expected in the capital Bujumbura on Friday. It was not immediately clear when Rwasa would go to Burundi.
Regional leaders had given FNL commanders exiled in neighbouring countries until May 15 to return to Burundi, which is emerging from more then a decade of ethnic conflict.
Peace talks in the coffee growing country stalled last July when the rebels quit a truce monitoring team accusing mediators of bias.
Despite a September 2006 peace agreement, over 100 people have been killed and thousands displaced since renewed violence broke out in April.
Burundi's government has faced allegations of corruption and rights abuses since it took power in 2005.
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