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Burundi Rebel Group Proposes Presidential Candidate
A Burundi Hutu rebel group, which is taking part in peace talks in Tanzania's northern town of Arusha, has proposed its own candidate for the transition presidency, the independent news agency Hirondelle reported Monday.
In a letter to peace mediator Nelson Mandela, PALIPEHUTU president Etienne Karatasi proposed Pastor Augustin Nkundabashaka as his movement's candidate for president during the transition period, the news agency said.
The Burundi peace accord, signed in Arusha on August 28 last year, provides for a three-year transition. "The nomination of a PALIPEHUTU candidate at this point is motivated by a lack of confidence in the FRODEBU (the biggest opposition party) candidate initially presented by the G7 (coalition of pro-Hutu parties)," Karatasi said in his letter.
He said "we in PALIPEHUTU are convinced that the Burundi people now need an honest candidate who respects God and human beings, to take on the enormous challenge of reconciling the sons and daughters of the nation.".
The seven parties forming the G7 initially tried to unite around the FRODEBU candidate Domitien Ndayizeye, but the CNDD rebel group of Leonard Nyangoma subsequently proposed its own candidate Albert Mbonerane.
PALIPEHUTU accuses FRODEBU of collaborating with the current Tutsi-led government and "holding secret talks in the name of the G7, without a mandate".
PALIPEHUTU's move comes ahead of a regional summit on Burundi, to be held in Arusha on February 26 and 27. The mediation has said a new round of peace talks, which will follow the summit, must resolve the two "outstanding issues", namely the question of a ceasefire and the transition leadership.
The other candidates for transition president, apart from those already mentioned, are current President Pierre Buyoya of UPRONA (pro-Tutsi), Jean-Baptiste Bagaza of PARENA (pro-Tutsi), Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi (proposed by six pro-Tutsi parties) and Terence Nsanze of ABASA (pro-Tutsi).
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