GREAT LAKES: IRIN-CEA Update 1,045
BURUNDI: Rebel group warns against enforcing "unworkable ceasefire"
The rebel PALIPEHUTU-FNL movement has reiterated its call for a new peace
process. In a letter to the president of the UN Security Council, a copy
of which was seen by IRIN on Friday, the movement's leader Cossan Kabura
said the new process "should be between the real belligerents [the rebels
and the army] and deal with political issues before embarking on military
ones such as a ceasefire, which should be discussed during the process".
"Why should PALIPEHUTU-FNL be told to sign a ceasefire of a political
process from which it has been excluded?" Kabura asked. "We took up arms
because all the peaceful means had been exhausted. The ball is in the
Bujumbura government's court." He said his group was ready to hold direct
talks with the government as long as the Burundi authorities recognised
PALIPEHUTU-FNL as a political party "legally operating in Burundi, whose
armed wing (FNL) is engaged in a war with the government army". He added
that the government should also "solemnly declare in a letter to the
international facilitator [Nelson Mandela] that it is ready to hold
political talks with the party". Kabura warned the Security Council
against "taking harsh and hasty actions such as enforcing an unworkable
ceasefire in wartorn Burundi".
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