Peace talks for Burundi entered a third day in Pretoria, with rebel and government leaders due to thrash out a power-sharing agreement for the central African country’s transition to democratic elections, officials said on Tuesday.
South African officials, who declined to be named, said talks between Burundian President Domitien Ndayiseye and the country’s main rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza would “continue at leadership level”.
The talks, the latest in a series of negotiations aimed at restoring peace in Burundi after 10 years of civil war, kicked off Sunday and resumed for a second session Monday afternoon.
Those talks ran through the night, and only broke up at 5:30 am (0330 GMT) on Tuesday morning. Participants left the Presidential Guest House east of the city centre without making statements.
Nkurunziza, leader of Burundi’s main Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), on Monday said rebels and the central African country’s government reached a deal on security arrangements, including the composition of the army, police and secret service.
“We closed the security part of the talks and agreed on issues relating to the army, the police and the security services,” he said shortly before talks resumed Monday afternoon with Ndayizeye, South African President Thabo Mbeki and his deputy Jacob Zuma in Pretoria.
“The talks are progressing positively. We will now go on to negotiate political aspects and arrangements for the transition,” Nkurunziza added.
The FDD has demanded a vice presidency and the posts of National Assembly speaker and army chief of staff, challenging the dominance of Ndayizeye’s party, the Burundi Democratic Front.
“Our satisfaction is total. Negotiations were hard, but we have arrived at a compromise,” he said, but did not give details.
Asked whether this meant the rebels would get the 40% of the army that they have been demanding, Nkurunziza said the percentage itself was not essential at this stage.
“The issue is one of organising the army,” he told reporters.
But the FDD’s secretary general, Hussein Radjabu, said: “Concerning command of the army, the two parties have agreed the government will get 60% and the FDD 40%.”
Both the FDD and Burundi’s second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), have been blamed for recent violence in the country, where civil war broke out in 1993 between rebels from the Hutu majority and the Tutsi-dominated army. The war has claimed some 300 000 lives, mostly civilians. – AFP