Burundi President Pierre Buyoya and the leader of the rebel Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), Pierre Nkurunziza, signed a historic ceasefire agreement here early Tuesday aimed at ending a civil war which has killed around 300 000 people.
Also signing the document at a ceremony in the early hours of the morning (late Monday GMT) were Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and head mediator and South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
It is the first time that the Bujumbura government and the main rebel group have signed a pact since the country’s civil war began in 1993.
”The transitional government of Burundi and CNDD-FDD (rebels) agreed to a ceasefire with effect from the date of the signature of the ceasefire agreement”, a joint statement issued by the mediators stated.
However, responding to a question on this effective date of this ceasefire, President Museveni said said ”it will start on December 30, taking into account preparation needed,” by the two parties.
Zuma told reporters that the ”people who have signed a ceasefire agreement have supposed to stop fighting immediately”.
The historic signing came at the end of a two-day summit of regional heads of state dedicated to the situation in Burundi.
The signing had been delayed on Monday afternoon when rebel representatives complained that the drafts presented to them differed from the negotiated ones.
”There are some errors in the editing (of the draft) which the mediators are correcting,” explained Buyoya’s aide Apollinaire Gahungu. The final signing went ahead some hours later.
The peace talks between the government in the small
poverty-stricken central African state and Hutu rebels began in August, with both sides digging in their heels for a satisfactory settlement.
A previous round of talks between the two parties ended in deadlock on November 7 despite a threat by the regional leaders to take unspecified ”appropriate measures” against both parties if they remained
”recalcitrant”.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) meanwhile warned on Monday that more than a million Burundians were threatened by worsening food shortages. More than 300 000 people have been killed in Burundi’s civil war, which pits Hutu rebel groups against an army dominated by the Tutsi minority.
In August 2000, most of the political parties involved in fighting signed a peace accord in Arusha, but the two principal rebel groups, including the FDD, refused to sign it.
Also attending the summit here were Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Mbeki and Meles left after Sunday’s session. Kenya’s President Daniel arap Moi sent Agriculture Minister Bonaya Godana, while Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila sent Information Minister Kikaya bin Kirumbi. Gabon, the United Nations and the African Union also sent representatives to the summit. – Sapa-AFP