One of Burundi’s main rebel groups agreed a ceasefire with the government yesterday after months of peace talks, raising hopes that a nine-year-long civil war which has left hundreds of thousands dead may be nearing an end.
President Pierre Buyoya, the head of the central African state’s interim government, signed a power-sharing deal with Pierre Nkurunziza, leader of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD).
The FDD, a Hutu-dominated force, is to become a political party and Buyoya, backed by a Tutsi-dominated army, is to step down next May to make way for a Hutu president. The deal was agreed shortly after midnight in Arusha, Tanzania, after intensive mediation by Uganda and South Africa.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said that a more militant Hutu rebel group, the Palipehutu-FNL, which stayed outside the peace process, would have difficulty sustaining its campaign.
”We are on the verge of some pretty robust sanctions that will stop them from fighting. If they don’t, we shall take actions against them,” he said.
Analysts said the accord was the best chance for peace since Tutsi paratroopers triggered war in 1993 by assassinating the country’s first democratically elected president, a Hutu.
Tutsis form just 15% of the 6,5-million population but control much of the power and wealth. More than 200 000 civilians are estimated to have died in fighting which, despite the former Belgian colony’s tiny size, helped to destabilise Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The groundwork for peace was laid in November 2001 when Hutu and Tutsi representatives agreed to share power in an interim administration. Despite the presence of South African peacekeepers, fighting continued as both sides haggled over details, and it was not until yesterday that a ceasefire was agreed.
”We will honour the agreement and we hope the transitional government will do the same. We would like to see peace in Burundi,” said Nkurunziza.
Hostilities were supposed to end immediately but Museveni said both sides might need up to three weeks to enforce the agreement. A crucial test will be whether President Buyoya abides by his promise to step down in May and whether Hutus are given some control of the army.
The deal clinched a diplomatic victory for South Africa and its chief mediator, the deputy president, Jacob Zuma, following the role of the former president Nelson Mandela in bringing Burundi’s warring sides closer together. Zuma is due to brief the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, today.
Relief agencies hoped the accord would help to alleviate a humanitarian crisis. The UN’s world food programme warned that food shortages threatened more than a million Burundians. – Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001