Dar es Salaam — A ceasefire agreement was signed early Tuesday between the Burundi government and one of the two main rebel factions, in a bid to end the nine-year civil war in the east African nation. Regional leaders who witnessed the accord warned the rebel force that was not a party to the deal that it must also cease fighting or face sanctions.
The Burundi peace agreement came after protracted negotiations in the northern town of Arusha in neighbouring Tanzania. It brought together Burundi President Pierre Buyoya and Pierre Nkurunziza, the leader of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD). The ceasefire is due to come into force at the end of the month, to allow both sides time to fully prepare.
Buyoya's main negotiator said a cessation of hostilities should begin within 72 hours. An FDD spokesman announced "there would be no fighting from Tuesday".
A last minute delay threatened to scupper the deal, after the FDD complained that the original text it had seen had been altered. Haggling and horse-trading over the fine details of the truce have taken months to agree.
The Arusha accord confers political party status on the FDD, which a statement said would participate in "power-sharing arrangements of the transitional government". This would follow further negotiations between the Buyoya administration and the FDD about how to proceed on the new transitional institutions.
Leaders from Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania - as well as the chief mediator, South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma - flew to Arusha on Sunday for an 11th hour effort to forge a peace deal and ceasefire between the warring parties in Burundi. This followed an abortive attempt in the Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, last week to reach agreement. The discussions then hit a snag on the issue of foreign troops on Burundian territory.
Zuma told journalists after the Arusha ceremony: "The signing (of the ceasefire deal) is a victory for all of us. It did not come easily. The principle of give and take was evident, and we were able to produce an African solution".
But the agreement between the Burundian authorities and the FDD excludes the other main rebel group, the Palipehutu-FNL (National Liberation Forces), which was not invited to the Arusha summit. Zuma said the FNL had put forward too many conditions and failed to show up for earlier talks arranged with Buyoya in Dar es Salaam.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who chaired the Arusha meeting, warned that regional leaders would get tough with the FNL and impose sanctions if it continued to fight. "I appeal to the FNL to stop what they are doing. The region will not tolerate it. It is unacceptable. If they don't, we shall take actions against them."
Asked what form sanctions would take, Museveni added: "You will see. We are on the verge of some pretty robust sanctions that will stop them from fighting".
Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa told AllAfrica on Tuesday in Dar es Salaam that the Burundi agreement was "a great challenge."
"I hope it works", he said. I think we can really attain and build peace in Burundi". He said he and his counterparts would do "everything in our power to make sure that the ceasefire is instituted, ensure the cooperation of the various political parties and make sure that the national integration of the army takes place".
The current acting chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Amara Essy, who is a former Ivorian foreign minister, said he was happy to see a deal brokered between the Burundian belligerents. But Essy said it was a pity the Palipehutu-FNL rebels were not a party to the deal. "I think we will have to redouble our efforts to get these other parties to sign," the AU chief said.
"I think everyone is tired of the war - civilians and the warring parties - and all the Burundians seem to understand that they have reached their limit," Essy continued, adding that, during negotiations, everyone had to know just when to stop and those who chose to continue the war risked having stringent regional sanctions slapped on them.
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More than 300, 000 people are reported to have been killed in the nine-year conflict in Burundi, which has polarised Buyoya's minority Tutsi-led army and rebels from the Hutu majority. Despite making up just 15 percent of the population, the Tutsi have maintained a firm grip on power - in both the government and the military - since Burundi gained independence from Belgium in 1962.
A power-sharing agreement, originally brokered by Nelson Mandela as mediator between the two sides last year, did not halt the fighting. The intention of the three-year reconciliation plan, set up in November last year, was to change Burundi's Tutsi-dominated government into an equitable administration of both Hutu and Tutsi.
The current agreement stipulates that Buyoya, a Tutsi, will be replaced in the coming months by Vice President Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu. He will then head the remainder of the transition, leading to democratic elections in Burundi.
