18 October 2007
Bujumbura — A delegation from the facilitation bureau in Bujumbura and several members of the commission in charge of monitoring the truce between FNL and the government of Burundi visited two waiting areas where FNL dissidents have been relocated.
Representatives of the national defence forces were also part of this delegation. The visit occurred this morning at Randa in Mpanda commune and in Rugazi with the endorsement of the chairman of the regional initiative, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who also demands that these dissidents be relocated to a large waiting area and be supplied with food.
The Burundian Ambassador to the United Nations, Joseph Ntakarutimana, has also officially made a similar demand in asking the United Nations to provide food to FNL dissidents. More than 1200 would-be FNL combatants are stationed in Randa and Rugazi in the province of Bubanza with their security insured by the national security and defence forces.
In a press release that was issued by the facilitator of this process, Charles Nquakula, on 12 October, it was stated that the commission in charge of the monitoring of the truce is to resume its activities in Bujumbura next Saturday, 20 October 2007.
This visit to stationing areas comes as part of the build-up to this meeting which, as some sources indicate, the delegation of FNL combatants loyal to Agathon Rwasa may not attend out of fear for their security.
The South African mediation team and the government of Burundi are alleged to be backing the recent schism that have appeared within FNL-PALIPEHUTU in an attempt to undermine leaders of this movement which has been active in Burundi for almost three decades.
The Regional Initiative for peace in Burundi has rejected FNL's demand for a change of facilitator and FNL has agreed to return to the truce commission.
The truce had been given time and space to derail. Talks within the truce monitoring commission froze after the South African troops serving under the African Union announced in July of this year that members of the FNL delegation, whose security they were in charge protecting, had stolen their rifles.
The South African troops later found their rifles which had gone missing in their own stocks. The first accusations had, however, already jeopardized the success of the truce commission and led FNL members to walk out on it.
This incident occurred almost a year after the deal to end the hostilities between the government of Burundi and FNL-PALIPEHUTU was brokered, but FNL combatants were never supplied with food, although their positions were known.
A month after schisms appeared within FNL, the government of Burundi demanded the United Nations to provide food for the dissidents, making clear its plan to sideline Agathon Rwasa and his followers.
The Ugandan President and the South African services all have reason to back the government of Burundi in their attempt to remove leaders of FNL-PALIPEHUTU from power.
The President of Burundi has strong ties with his Ugandan counterpart and has already absolved a multi-billion franc debt that Uganda owed to Burundi, although Burundi is struggling hard to get funds to pay civil servants. In return, Uganda backs the President of Burundi in providing copy books to pupils.
It is suspected that the South African intelligence services were involved in a plot that was fabricated by the ruling party in order to silence opposition using Dr. Alain Mugabarabona, another FNL dissident commander who is now serving his days in the central prison of Mpimba.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Burundi Réalités. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
