FORMER President Nelson Mandela has invited rebel groups fighting Burundi’s civil war to attend talks in South Africa at the end of May. Mandela, a mediator in the conflict since December, is also working to win approval for the Burundi army to attend the talks in South Africa. “Mr Mandela is meeting the rebels here in Johannesburg at the end of May,” a spokeswoman said. Mandela met with Burundi’s President Pierre Buyoya and the army’s high command during his first visit to Burundi last month. An estimated 200000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Burundi in massacres and attacks by Hutu rebels and in reprisals by the Tutsi-led army since the war began in late 1993.