PRETORIA - Burundi rebels will rejoin a truce monitoring team they quit in July, South African facilitator Charles Nqakula said on Monday, boosting efforts to bring a lasting end to a decade of conflict.
"The stalled Burundi peace process will be resumed on Saturday, Oct 20. when the joint verification monitoring mechanism hold a meeting in Bujumbura to resume the task of implementing the ceasefire agreement between the Burundi government and the...(rebel) FNL," Nqakula told a news conference.
The rebel group refused in September to rejoin a truce monitoring team they quit in July unless Nqakula, South Africa's safety and security minister, was replaced.
The team -- comprising FNL members, government officials and South African mediators -- was set up after the FNL agreed to a peace deal in September to end more than a decade of civil war that has killed 300,000 people.
The Forces for National Liberation (FNL) -- the last active rebel group in the tiny central African country -- accused Nqakula of bias.
