VARIOUS: TUTSI HARDLINER WARNS HIS FACTION WOULD NOT ABIDE PEACE DEAL BROKERED BY FORMER PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA

Record ID: 208332

  • Title: VARIOUS: TUTSI HARDLINER WARNS HIS FACTION WOULD NOT ABIDE PEACE DEAL BROKERED BY FORMER PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA
  • Date: 27th August 2000
  • Summary: BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (22 AUGUST, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. LV/SLV VIEWS OF STREET DEMONSTRATION BY HARD-LINE TUTSIS PROTESTING AGAINST THE PEACE AGREEMENT (4 SHOTS) 0.41 2. SLV PEOPLE SALVAGING GOODS AFTER FIRE (2 SHOTS) 0.51 3. SV DEAD BODY 0.55 4. LV CROWDS WATCHING FIRE (2 SHOTS) 1.01 UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, BURUNDI (27 AUGUST, 2000) (REUTERS) 5. GV OFFICE BLOCK IN BURUNDI 1.06 6. SCU SOUNDBITE(French)SPOKESMAN FOR TUTSI MILITIA GROUP AMASEKANYA NTUZWEHINDAVYI GIDEON SAYING "We're going into combat we're going to put the agreement into practice in a political way and if we have to were going to pick up arms to defend ourselves, because of the groups committing genocide, they go back as far as the Government institutions and they use arms at a level were all the people are picking up arms". 1.43 NEAR BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (FILE) (REUTERS) 7. SLV HILLS WITH SOLDIERS AND WEAPONS IN FOREGROUND 1.46 8. MV MAN DANCING/ PEOPLE DRINKING (2 SHOTS) 1.54 BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (27 AUGUST, 2000) (REUTERS) 9. MV FOOTBALL PLAYERS WALKING ONTO PITCH 2.03 10. VARIOUS OF MATCH/CROWD CHANTING 3.39 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI AND ARUSHA, TANZANIA
  • City:
  • Country: Burundi Tanzania
  • Reuters ID: LVAVHTUSW0I63OT9F9QPYPT28X9
  • Story Text: A Tutsi hardliner warned Sunday(August 27) that his
    faction would not abide by a peace deal brokered by former
    South African president Nelson Mandela. There has been one
    glimmer of harmony amid inter-tribal hatred - a football
    match between Hutu and Tutsi teams has been played without any
    trouble on or off the pitch.



    Spokesman for Tutsi militia group Amasekanya
    Ntuzwehindavyi Gideon said on Sunday (August 27) that the
    military wing and his political organisation would not abide
    by any peace deal signed between Burundi's Hutu and Tutsi
    factions, and vowed to keep on fighting against all Hutus.

    "We're going into combat we're going to put the
    agreement into practice in a political way and if we have to
    were going to pick up arms to defend ourselves, because of the
    groups committing genocide, they go back as far as the
    Government institutions and they use arms at a level were all
    the people are picking up arms". he said.

    As Gideon spoke US President Bill Clinton was preparing
    to visit Burundi on Monday.

    Former South African president Nelson Mandela was
    holding intensive talks in Tanzania on Sunday(August 27) in a
    last-minute bid to bridge deep gaps among Burundi's warring
    political factions.

    Hopes were high last July 18 when, for the first
    time, all of Burundi's warring factions sat around the
    conference table in Arusha, Tanzania to hammer out a peace
    agreement.

    Mediator Nelson Mandela soon realised there were too
    many snags in the agreement, and commuted the signing ceremony
    to August 28, in the presence of leaders from across Africa
    and beyond, including US President Bill Clinton.

    But no real progress has been made in the intervening
    month and a half and it looks likely that no definitive peace
    accord will be signed next week in Arusha.

    The main CNDD-FDD rebel group has already said it will
    not sign the agreement because too many of its demands have
    not been met.

    The mainly Hutu CNDD-FDD says that questions of who will
    lead a transitional government, questions on political
    prisoners and questions of the ethnic make-up of the army have
    yet to be answered to its satisfaction .

    It was up to Tutsi and Hutu football players to set an
    example with a rare meeting on the sportsfield at Bujumbura on
    Sunday (August 27).

    The Tutsi team won 1-0, and although spectators reported
    that the competition was fierce, the match was played
    peacefully, with no violent incidents reported on or off the
    pitch.

    The football match was organised by the Burundi Football
    Federation.
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