Peace talks between the government of Burundi and rebels embroiled in a nine-year civil war are finally set to begin next week, a Tanzanian official said on Friday.
During the talks set to begin on Monday, mediators from Gabon, South Africa and Tanzania will meet with government and rebel negotiators in an attempt to come up with a cease-fire, the Tanzanian foreign ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.
Confusion has surrounded the talks. They were expected to begin on August 6 but were delayed without explanation.
However, since Thursday, mediators have been meeting separately with officials from the government and the rebel groups to work out the agenda, the official said.
The talks are expected to last at least three weeks. They are considered key to the survival of Burundi’s transitional government, which took office in November to implement a power-sharing agreement worked out between political parties from the central African nation’s Hutu majority and Tutsi minority.
The agreement was signed by President Pierre Buyoya, the National Assembly and 17 political parties in August 2000. But the Hutu rebels of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy and the National Liberation Front did not take part in the peace process and the accord does not provide for a cease-fire.
Fighting has intensified in the central African nation in recent months.
The war broke out in October 1993 after Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the first democratically elected president, who was a Hutu. Despite being in the minority, Tutsis have effectively controlled the nation of six million people for all but a few months since independence from Belgium in 1962.
More than 200 000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed during the war. – Sapa-AP