Burundi and its last remaining rebel group signed a full ceasefire on Thursday, a crucial step towards stabilising a nation trying to rise from the ashes of a 12-year civil war.
President Pierre Nkurunziza — a former Hutu rebel leader — and Forces for National Liberation (FNL) chief Agathon Rwasa, also a Hutu, signed the deal in Dar es Salaam in the presence of South African mediators and African leaders.
”Dear brothers of the FNL, get ready to work hard. We are asking our brothers to reiterate their commitment to implement this agreement,” Nkurunziza said at a ceremony attended by the presidents of Uganda and South Africa among others.
The signing was greeted with caution because past formal truces have evaporated before the ink even dried, with the guerrillas and army clashing in the hilly country’s steaming forests within days.
South Africa has been mediating talks between the FNL and Burundi since May. In June, the two sides signed an agreement to stop fighting while they negotiated, but a July deadline for a final ceasefire passed with no deal.
During Burundi’s civil war, Nkurunziza’s rebel group came to the peace process first, in 2003, while the FNL held out, launching sporadic attacks against civilians and soldiers from its bush hideouts around the lakeside capital Bujumbura.
”The current agreement is really a decisive moment … for which we have been waiting for so long,” Rwasa said after the signing.
Now both sides have to hammer out details of how to implement the deal and demobilise the estimated 1 500 to 3 000 FNL fighters, mediators said. — Reuters