By George Obulutsa
Dar es Salaam - The leader of Burundi's only remaining rebel group has said the FNL is ready to talk peace with the Burundian government, a Tanzanian newspaper reported on Sunday.
"We are ready to negotiate with the current Burundi government so that we can halt hostilities and establish truce for the sake of peace in our country," Agathon Rwasa, leader of the FNL was quoted by the Sunday News as saying.
The paper added that Rwasa said confrontation was not the best way to solve Burundi's problems.
Rwasa made the remarks on Saturday at a news conference with Tanzania's Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Asha-Rose Migiro.
"People are saying there is peace in our country but what is happening on the ground shows clearly that peace is not there," Rwasa said.
Burundi is struggling to emerge from more than a decade of civil war that pitted rebels from the Hutu majority against a Tutsi ruling elite. The conflict, which began in 1993, killed at least 300 000 people.
Under a peace deal struck in 2003, Burundi's main rebel group, the FDD, joined the government under a Tutsi-Hutu power sharing deal.
But the FNL denounced the deal and stepped up its military campaign from a stronghold around the capital, Bujumbura.
A series of polls led to the swearing-in of former rebel Pierre Nkurunziza as president in August under a United Nations-backed plan, but diplomats say lasting peace cannot be achieved unless the FNL lay down their arms.
"We still believe negotiation is the only means with which we can reach a consensus," Rwasa said, in an apparent u-turn. "However, that depends on the response by the current government."
The FNL has come under increasing pressure from the international community and a series of military defeats at the hands of government forces.
Nkurunziza had given the rebels an ultimatum to lay down their arms by the end of last October or face the consequences but a defiant FNL refused to give up.
Rwasa reiterated accusations from Human Rights Watch last month that the transitional government was torturing and killing suspected FNL members.
"Some of our colleagues have been murdered in cold blood, tortured and at least 5 000 of our supporters have been detained. This kind of atmosphere is not conducive for peace," Rwasa said.
In the same newspaper report, Migiro said Tanzania would contact the Burundian government to discuss the matter.
"For many years the government has been playing a decisive role in efforts to bring peace to Burundi. What we shall do now is contact the Burundi government on the matter," she said.