A split in Burundi’s last active Hutu rebel group intensified on Monday as a faction favouring peace talks with the government said the guerrilla’s hardline chief and several key allies had been replaced.
A splinter group of the National Liberation Forces (FNL) said longtime supremo Agathon Rwasa and two top aides had been suspended and that Jean-Bosco Sindayigaya, Rwasa’s former deputy, had been named president of the group.
”We have created a national council for the renovation of the FNL with Jean-Bosco Sindayigaya as its head, wielding all powers until the convening of a congress,” said Sylvestre Niyungeko, a spokesperson for the breakaway faction.
Sindayigaya resigned from the FNL last month, speaking of differences with Rwasa, who has steadfastly refused to accept the legitimacy of the government that came to power in August and rejected its peace overtures.
Niyungeko said that in addition to Rwasa, FNL chief of staff Ibrahim Ntakarutimana and the group’s main spokesperson Pasteur Habimana had been suspended.
He said the decisions had been made during an FNL leadership meeting in Bujumbura Rural province on the outskirts of the capital, a traditional stronghold of the rebels.
Habimana could not be reached to comment on the move, the effect of which on the FNL and its ongoing military operations was not immediately clear.
The FNL is the only one of Burundi’s seven Hutu rebel groups not to have signed onto the peace process ending more than a decade of war that claimed about 300 000 lives.
It has recently stepped up attacks in and around the capital. – AFP