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Security Council welcomes meeting of Burundian opponents in the Netherlands

Security Council welcomes meeting of Burundian opponents in the Netherlands

The United Nations Security Council, stressing that there can be mo military solution to the continuing Burundian conflict, today welcomed recent discussions between Burundi's opposing parties in the Netherlands.

The talks place earlier this week in Oisterwijk brought together Burundi's President and a delegation of the Forces nationales de libération (Palipehutu-FNL).

In a press statement, the Council President for January, Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz of Chile, encouraged the parties to continue their discussions "with a view to a complete cessation of hostilities, and to Palipehutu-FNL entering the transitional institutions." He also urged the parties to exercise restraint.

The conflict between Burundi's Government and Palipehutu-FNL is the last remaining obstacle to ending a decade of civil war that has left between 250,000 and 300,000 people dead.