Burundi peace deal concluded in S. Africa

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 09, 2003

Burundi peace deal concluded in S. Africa

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye and the leader of the main rebel group on Wednesday signed a political and military agreement aimed at ending the country's 10-year civil war.

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Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye and the leader of the main rebel group on Wednesday signed a political and military agreement aimed at ending the country's 10-year civil war.

The deal was signed by Domitien Ndayizeye, the president of Burundi's transitional government, and Pierre Nkurunziza, the leader of the main Hutu rebel group of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), in Pretoria after negotiations mediated personally by South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria.

This agreement spells out the details of how the army would be restructured -- a key rebel demand. The deal included a compromiseon political and military issues with both leaders declaring an immediate cessation of hostilities in the tiny central African country, at war since 1993.

Nkurunziza called for an immediate halt to hostilities, saying his FDD combatants would no longer fight against the people of Burundi.

Ndayizeye replied "with all my heart I issue an order for the immediate cessation of hostilities. I order the defense minister, who is here, to convey this order to the army."

The two leaders agreed that the FDD would get four ministerial positions, and 15 seats within the National Assembly, including the vice-presidency and deputy secretary general.

In the army the FDD will now make up 40 percent of staff with the allocation of command posts on the basis of ethnic balance. A new representative police force will also be set up.

Mbeki hailed a Burundi peace deal, saying the agreement was crucial in solving the "jigsaw puzzle in the heart of Africa."

"This is not just paper. It ensures that not another African dies unnecessarily. I hope we can replicate it in other parts of the continent where Africans are killing Africans," the South African president said.

Ndayizeye came to power in May this year, in terms of a power-sharing agreement brokered by former South African president Nelson Mandela and signed in Arusha, Tanzania in 2000.

The civil war broke out in Burundi in October 1993 when militiaof the Tutsi minority killed the country's first democratically-elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu.

The violence is estimated to have claimed about 300,000 lives, mostly civilians.

A transitional government has been set up to guide the country to democratic elections. It entered its final phase on May 1 when Ndayizeye, a Hutu, took over the presidency from Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi.

The pacts have been repeatedly violated, with both parties accusing each other of breaching the accords and leaving hundreds of mostly civilians dead.

Burundi's second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), was not party to the December ceasefire and has repeatedly refused to enter into talks with the government.

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