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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

BURUNDI: Former rebels arrive in Bujumbura to take up ministerial posts

BUJUMBURA, 1 December 2003 (IRIN) - Two members of Burundi's largest former rebel movement, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), who were recently appointed ministers, arrived on Sunday in the capital, Bujumbura, after several years in exile.

The two, Simon Nyandwi and Onesime Nduwimana, were appointed on 23 November as interior minister and minister for communications and government spokesman, respectively.

Nyandwi arrived from Tanzania where he had been for eight years while Nduwimana arrived from Germany where he had spent the last eight years.

"We are very happy to return home after a long stay in exile, this is an indication that peace is coming in Burundi," they told reporters in Bujumbura.

"It's time to put together our efforts for the return of peace and give up division among Burundians," Nyandwi said. "Burundians killed each other because of ethnic and regional divisions, this is the past, we have to look forward to the reconstruction of our nation."

CNDD-FDD leader Pierre Nkurunziza who was appointed Minister of State for Good Governance and the movement's deputy secretary-general, Salvator Ntahomenyereye, who was appointed Minister of Public Works, were expected in Bujumbura soon, Nyandwi and Nduwimana said.

At the same time, two CNDD-FDD members who will represent the movement in the Joint Ceasefire monitoring Committee (JCC) have also arrived in the country.

All senior officials of the CNDD-FDD will be under the protection of the peacekeeping African Mission in Burundi comprising troops from Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa before the integration of the former rebel faction's combatants into the country's new security forces.

President Domitien Ndayizeye reshuffled his cabinet to accommodate the CNDD-FDD in accordance with a power-sharing agreement between the two parties that was signed on 16 November in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Under that agreement, the CNDD-FDD is also due to get 40 percent of posts in the army staff and 35 percent in the police. It will have two posts in the bureau of the parliament and will be represented by 15 members of parliament.

The three-year transitional government was established in Burundi following the signing of the Arusha Accord for Peace and Reconciliation on 28 August 2000, allowing for two 18-month phases under which the country would be led by a Tutsi and Hutu, respectively.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance

[ENDS]

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