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Burundian
President Pierre Nkurunziza won a controversial third term in power following
months of political violence ©Marco Longari (AFP)
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Burundi's rebels came
together Wednesday for the first time as a force aimed at ousting President
Pierre Nkurunziza, after months of bloodshed in the troubled central African
country. The
formation of the 'Forebu' insurgency comes amid mounting regional pressure on
the government to accept African Union peacekeepers it calls an "invasion
force".
AFP report continues:
The
54-member AU said last week it would send a 5,000-strong force to halt violence
that has sparked fears Burundi is sliding back towards civil war, and has
pledged to send troops despite the government's fierce opposition.
AFP
report continues:
Pushing
for Burundi's acceptance of the AU force will be a key part of talks in Uganda
on December 28, regional diplomats said.
The
rebels have formed a force "to protect the population" and uphold the
Arusha Agreement that paved the way to the end of the 1993-2006 civil war but
which they say Nkurunziza has violated by his third term in power.
The
rebels have called themselves the Republican Forces of Burundi, or
"Forebu" from its name in French, Les Forces Republicaines du
Burundi, said Edward Nshimirimana, a former army colonel turned rebel.
"Our
goal is to drive out Nkurunziza by force to restore the Arusha accord and
democracy," Nshimirimana told AFP by telephone.
Nkurunziza,
an ex-rebel and born-again Christian who believes he has divine backing to
rule, won a third term in office in July.
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Rwanda denies backing rebels -
A
coup attempt in May was crushed after two days, with many of the soldiers and
police who took part fleeing.
Hundreds
of people have been killed in months of street protests in Burundi, which have
devolved into frequent armed attacks with gunfire disrupting the nights and
dead bodies appearing on city streets almost every day.
While
there have been near daily gun battles in the capital, attacks are now taking
place in other parts of the country too, but until now the rebel force had no
name.
The
formation of Forebu is significant, as Bujumbura's government has dismissed
talk of rebellion, instead rather blaming attacks on "armed
criminals" or insurgents.
Burundi
plunged into civil war on ethnic lines between majority Hutus and minority
Tutsis in 1993, at a cost of an estimated 300,000 lives by the end of the conflict
in 2006.
Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni will host the latest talks next week, Uganda's
Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga told AFP.
But
those talks will also involve the key opposition coalition, Cnared.
Burundi's
government has so far refused to hold talks with Cnared, branding it a
"terrorist organisation" and accusing it of being behind attacks on
security forces.
Rwandan
President Paul Kagame warned that the violence in the neighbouring nation had
the "potential to spill over" to his country.
But
he said he would not send troops to join the African Union force being sent to
Burundi.
Kagame
also dismissed allegations levelled by Burundian officials and aid groups that
Rwanda is recruiting and arming refugees as rebel fighters.
"I
haven't even seen the tiniest evidence of that so it becomes a lot of
politicking," Kagame said, calling the accusations "childish".
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