The former main rebel group in Burundi said on Tuesday it will resume participation in the transitional government of the central African country, after suspending its membership early in May.
The Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) said in a statement that it is ”lifting the measure to suspend participation” in an interim power-sharing team for the war-wracked country because of progress made towards peace.
The former rebels were the main force drawn from Burundi’s Hutu majority, which had been battling a then Tutsi government and the Tutsi-dominated army in a civil war that has claimed at least 300 000 lives since 1993.
The FDD quit the government on May 3 on the grounds that there had been too many delays in ”the full implementation of an overall peace accord signed on November 16 between the government and the FDD”.
This pact, coming in the wake of a previous accord among all political parties, largely puts an end to the conflict, but another small rebel movement, the National Liberation Forces (FNL) is still active in one of the small country’s 17 provinces.
Under last November’s accord, the FDD was to be given the posts of three provincial governors, 30 local administrators and two ambassadors, as well as taking charge of 20% of state-run companies and seeing the release of its prisoners of war.
To date, Tuesday’s statement said, ”two governors, 29 administrators, two ambassadors and one company director have already been named”.
The Justice Ministry has said that about 460 prisoners have been freed.
FDD secretary general Hussein Radjabu said the movement is taking up its posts again in both the government and the interim national assembly because of ”progress already made and a firm promise from our partners to implement the rest rapidly”.
The former rebels have four ministerial posts — good governance and the state comptroller, the interior, communications and public works.
Their boycott of the government and the transitional Parliament prevented neither from functioning. — Sapa-AFP