Arusha — Tanzania's President Benjamin Mkapa said on Thursday that his government would hold direct talks with Burundi Hutu rebel groups, aimed at getting a ceasefire.

Mkapa was speaking to journalists in Arusha, after talks with Burundian president Pierre Buyoya. He said that whereas South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma had so far been leading attempts to get a ceasefire, the process should be stepped up. It had been agreed, he said, to involve any country that could help push the process forward.

Asked whether Tanzania might host ceasefire talks between the Burundi rebels and new transition government, Mkapa replied that the rebels must first be persuaded to come to the negotiating table. "We have yet to persuade them, and then we'll look at where to hold negotiations," he said.

Mkapa also said he believed that the solution to all the rebels' claims could be found in the August 2000 Arusha peace accord for Burundi.

Buyoya told reporters that he had come to the meeting for three reasons: to thank Tanzania for all its efforts to obtain and help implement the Arusha accord; to evaluate the implementation process and the way forward; and to ask the Tanzanian authorities for help in solving "pending issues", especially the lack of aceasefire.

Also in Arusha were the Foreign Ministers of Tanzania and Burundi, the Tanzanian Defence Minister, the Burundian ministers in charge of Trade and of Refugees, and National Assembly Speaker Jean Minani.

Hutu rebel groups CNDD-FDD and FNL did not sign the August 2000 Arusha peace accord for Burundi, and have continued fighting despite the installation of a transition government last November 1st. While Buyoya, a Tutsi who returned to power in a 1996 bloodless coup, still heads Burundi, he is now seconded by a Hutu vice-president and must work with broad-based transition institutions. Hutu opposition leader and parliamentary speaker Minani has also been holding talks in Tanzania this week.

Tanzania is host to more than 300,000 mostly Hutu refugees from Burundi. In the past, it has been accused by some pro-Tutsi parties of being pro-Hutu, even of supporting the rebels and trying to destabilize Burundi. Dar es Salaam has always vigorously denied such charges, saying that its aim is to return Burundi to peace and the refugees to their country.