Fri, 04:51 16 May 2008 GMT17

 

Burundi rebels told to go home, want amnesty first
05 May 2008 12:59:41 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Patrick Nduwimana

BUJUMBURA, May 5 (Reuters) - Burundi's last group of rebels said on Monday they wanted an amnesty before they would accept a 10-day ultimatum from regional leaders to return home and implement a long-awaited peace deal.

A Forces for National Liberation (FNL) spokesman said the Tanzanian and Ugandan foreign ministers issued the deadline at talks with FNL leaders in Arusha, northern Tanzania, on Sunday.

"They told us to go back to Burundi," the FNL spokesman, Pasteur Habimana, told Reuters by telephone from Dar es Salaam. A number of FNL officials are based in neighbouring Tanzania.

"We do not accept that decision (on the ultimatum)," he said. "We want amnesty first before we return to Burundi."

Despite a 2006 peace deal, more than 50 people have been killed and thousands displaced in fresh clashes over the last two weeks between FNL fighters and the Burundian military.

President Pierre Nkurunziza has urged the region to put pressure on the rebels, and Habimana said the FNL was briefed on Sunday about a meeting of regional leaders in Kampala last week.

Burundi's peace talks stalled last July after the rebels quit a ceasefire monitoring team and accused mediators of bias.

The FNL insurgency is seen as the last barrier to stability in the coffee-growing nation of 8 million, which is emerging from more than a decade of civil war in which 300,000 people were killed. (Editing by Daniel Wallis and Tim Pearce) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)
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