Burundi leaders cement peace deal

Burundi President Domitien Ndayizeye and the leader of the main Hutu rebel movement Pierre Nkurunziza have signed a peace deal aimed at bringing the country’s 10-year civil war to an end. 

President Ndayizeye hopes the new deal will end violence

Despite breakthroughs with the peace accord, African political analysts say that there are no guarantees that the violence will come to an end.

Ndayizeye and the main rebel group, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) agreed last month to share power in an attempt to try and bring an end to the civil war.

A decade of conflict in the central African country has left more than 300,000 dead.

Hutu majority rebels have been fighting to bring an end to the political dominance of the minority Tutsis.

 Refusal

The oldest Hutu rebel group, the forces for National Liberation (FNL), has refused to enter into peace talks with government politicians saying that they will only negotiate with army commanders.

Ndayizeye has called on the FNL to join the peace talks, insisting that all political parties need to be on board if there is to be a genuine peace agreement.

Ndayizeye, talking at the peace summit in Tanzania called on the international community to come forward with financial aid. The President said that money was needed to bring stability to the Burundi and to disarm and demobilise armed groups.