Burundi’s last remaining rebel groups on Thursday demanded a chance to make their case to the international community about why they took up arms before they will agree to enter into peace talks with the Central African nation’s government.
At the close of a conference held in neighbouring Tanzania, leaders from the National Liberation Forces also called on government troops to stop attacking their positions, said Pasteur Habimana, the group’s spokesperson.
”First, we ask the international community to listen to our complaints,” Habimana said. ”Second, we ask the Bujumbura government and its army to stop the war they are waging against us.”
The Hutu-led National Liberation Forces is the last rebel group in Burundi, after the other agreed to join a power-sharing government last year. The war began in 1993 when minority Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country’s first democratically elected president, a Hutu.
Minority Tutsis have controlled the government, economy and military for most of Burundi’s history since independence in 1962.
The rebel leadership has demanded that Hutus fill the majority of positions in all aspects of Burundian life, which has caused Tutsis to fear a campaign of ethnic repression.
The National Liberation Forces’ leaders have long demanded international recognition of alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Tutsi-led army. The rebels specifically want a chance to explain their cause to official from the United Nations, United States, the European Union and regional African leaders, Habimana said.
The rebels have also suspended offensive operations, Habimana said. But fighting has continued around the capital, Bujumbura, for months, with both the army and the rebels accusing the other of starting the violence. The new government — led by a Hutu and ethnically balanced — has called on the rebels to declare a unilateral ceasefire.
”We are attacked by the National Liberation Forces, whenever they stop launching attacks at our military posts … we will not fight them,” said Onesime Nduwimana, a government spokesperson.
Talks between President Domitien Ndauizeye, a Hutu, and the rebel leadership in The Netherlands on January 5 failed to make any headway. — Sapa-AP