Burundi: UN welcomes talks between Government and rebel hold-outs

The United Nations mission in Burundi has pledged its support for talks between the Government and the last remaining major rebel group aimed at ending all fighting in the small Central African country after years of ethnic conflict.

The UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB) welcomed the talks between the Government and the Palipehutu-National Liberation Forces (Palipehutu-FNL) which have just opened in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, under South African sponsorship.

“ONUB hails the threshold crossed by the two sides and encourages them to continue on this path which, with good will on both sides, will lead then to an agreement ending the conflict and allowing the Burundian people to enjoy fully the dividends of a peace won at such a high price,” the mission said in a statement.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s interim Special Representative for Burundi, Nureldin Satti, attended the opening of the negotiations.

Palipehutu-FNL is the last hold-out against a four-year transition process which concluded last August with the election of President Pierre Nkurunziza after decades of ethnic conflict pitting the Hutu majority against the Tutsi minority.