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           Civil Groups Angered by Exclusion From Burundi Peace Talks

   by James Butty

   The leader of a coalition of nearly 118 civil society groups in Burundi
   said nothing positive will come out of the current peace talks going on
   in the Tanzanian city of Arusha as long as key stakeholders are
   excluded.

   The talks are being facilitated by the East African Community (EAC).

   Among the groups not invited to the Arusha talks is the National
   Council for the Restoration of the Arusha Accord, also known as CNARED.

   Burundi's Foreign Minister Alain Nyamitwe has in the past accused
   CNARED of involvement in violence. The group has denied that label,
   accusing the government instead of being the perpetrator of violence.

   Vital Nshimirimana of the Forum for Strengthening the Civil Society
   (FORSC) said President Pierre Nkurunziza only wants to talk to those
   who do not oppose his regime.  "[President] Nkurunziza has initiated an
   internal dialogue which we called a monologue because he is talking
   alone; he's speaking to people who cannot challenge him, and internally
   they are proposing an amendment to the constitution to repeal  the core
   provisions of the Arusha Peace Agreement," he said.

   Nshimirimana said his group wants to know from the facilitator of the
   Arusha talks whether his group was not invited because it had organized
   mass protests to oppose  the third term of President Nkurunziza and to
   force him to respect the Arusha Accord.

   The Burundian crisis began last April with President Nkurunziza's
   decision to seek a controversial third five-year term, something the
   U.S. and  Nkurunziza's opponents say violates the constitution and the
   2000 Arusha Peace agreement that brought Burundi's civil war to an end
   after about 300,000 people died in the fighting.

   Burundian foreign minister Alain Nyamitwe told VOA recently his
   government was not pleased with the choice of CNARED to represent all
   opposition parties to the talks.

   Nyamitwe said his government will not negotiate with certain opposition
   figures who it considers as "coup plotters" or "sponsors of acts of
   terrorism". He said CNARED has been involved in violence and has no
   popular following.

   "Our government is open to talk with all political actors who are
   peaceful. If you go by the international organization's pronouncements
   on Burundi, both have come up with a clear indication as to which
   category of people should be around the table and those ones have to be
   peaceful. We're not making that up. It's in resolutions 32, 48 and
   2279," Nyamitwe said.

   But the opposition has blamed the Burundian government for thousands of
   deaths.

   "This is a narrative of attempting to escape the reality on the ground.
   The international community, all human rights observers, the media can
   testify that the security forces are committing crimes against
   humanity, some acts of genocide.  All these things are not committed by
   the opposition of civil society activists in exile," Nshimirimana said

   Nshimirimana said nothing positive will come out the Arusha talks
   unless the facilitator engages what he called the real stakeholders.

   "What can they expect when the opposition is not on board? What do they
   expect when armed groups are not on board? What can they expect when
   civil society groups are not on board?"
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/civil-groups-demand-explanation-for-e
   xclusion-from-burundi-talks/3341786.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/civil-groups-demand-explanation-for-exclusion-from-burundi-talks/3341786.html