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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

BURUNDI: Rebel group rules out meeting with new president

NAIROBI, 5 May 2003 (IRIN) - The Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) faction led by Agathon Rwasa has ruled out any meeting, "for the moment", between its leaders and the new Burundian president, Domitien Ndayizeye, Bonesha FM radio reported on Saturday.

Describing Burundi's problem as ethnic, not political, an FNL spokesman, Pasteur Habimana, said the rebel group was instead planning a dialogue with the Tutsi community organised under the aegis of the bashingantahe (traditional luminaries).

"We have no problem with Ndayizeye," Habimana said, adding that it would be difficult, "almost impossible", for the new leader to succeed where former President Pierre Buyoya had failed.

Radio Burundi reported on Sunday that Ndayizeye had met Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, who heads a Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) faction, and Alain Mugabarabona, the leader of another FNL faction. The three held talks on the integration of the two groups into state institutions such as the government, the National Assembly and the Senate.

The radio reported that the two rebel leaders later described the talks with the president as fruitful. Ndayikengurukiye urged Pierre Nkurunziza's CNDD-FDD faction to stop fighting in order to enable his group to be integrated into the government's institutions.

The Burundian news agency ABP reported on Friday that despite the 30 April changeover from Buyoya to Ndayizeye, FNL rebels and Nkurunziza's CNDD-FDD fighters were continuing to stage sporadic attacks in the country.

ABP cited several incidents of rebel attacks in central Burundi.

It reported that FNL rebels killed one person and injured three others when they attacked Gitaza in Muhuta commune of Bujumbura Rural Province on Friday. The attack forced the area residents to flee to Bugarama commune, also in Bujumbura Rural Province, ABP said.

It reported that on 1 May, CNDD-FDD rebels tried to disrupt May Day celebrations in Makamba Province, southern Burundi, by attacking Nyankara village, but government forces "reacted quickly and managed to repel them".

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council on Friday hailed the peaceful transfer of the presidency in Burundi from the Tutsi minority to the Hutu majority, and urged all parties to keep working together to successfully resolve other "pressing" transitional issues.

In a statement, the Council said it stood prepared to "take steps against those that are found to continue to support armed attacks by the Burundi rebels", and condemned last month's attacks on the capital, Bujumbura, and other cities by the rebel forces.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance

[ENDS]

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