28 November 2001
The Burundi government rejected on Tuesday rebel demands for direct peace talks with the army, saying this was just a ploy to avoid going to the negotiating table.
"Only the government can negotiate for itself and on behalf of the people. The army is a government institution," Luc Rukingama, minister in charge of reconciliation, said on Radio Bonesha.
Army spokesman Col. Augustin Nzabampema reiterated this on Tuesday, telling IRIN that the army's duty was to defend the nation and not engage in politics. The two rebel movements - the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie and the Forces nationals de liberation - say they want direct talks with the army because it remains the real power-broker in the country, news organisations have reported. The rebels have made their demand despite the inauguration of a transitional government shared almost equally between Hutus and Tutsis.
In another development, the Burundi news agency reported on Monday that "peace guards" killed three Interahamwe militiamen in the northwestern province of Cibitoke and seized 10 guns. The Interahamwe is a Rwandan Hutu militia that fought alongside the defeated former Rwandan army, the ex-FAR, in Rwanda's 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu.
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