"The time of recreation is over", says Burundian government, as another FNL "last chance" deadline passes

The FNL's latest "last chance to engage in peace talks" has passed, like all others before it, without any serious response from the FNL leadership. At the moment it's not even clear who the FNL's leaders actually are, in the wake of reports that Agathon Rwasa had been booted out and fled to be with his friends in Tanzania. Will the FNL come to the negotiating table? Or will they do what they did last year and orchestrate another big massacre, confident in the knowledge that the Burundian government and the international community will offer them another "last chance" before too long? Or will this finally be the moment that Burundi's government says "enough is enough"? Government spokesman Karenga Ramadhani certainly seems to be talking tough. "The current government is led by people who have been some time in the bush, we know where the FNL strong bases are, so it is just a question of time". He's got to have a point there - the ranks of Burundi's army have just been swelled with tens of thousands of former FDD rebels. It does seem a trifle bizarre that a small, Tanzanian-funded force of 3,000 Hutu extremists should cause quite such a problem.


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Burundi, human rights, Current Affairs, Politics, Africa