Burundi factions meet as violence enters 9th month

Burundi’s political factions restarted talks in Uganda in a bid to end a crisis in the East African nation sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s third term that’s left at least 400 people dead since late April.
Representative of Burundi’s government and opposition will discuss a national-unity administration and the return of refugees, among other issues, in the talks mediated by the East African Community, Uganda Defense Minister Crispus Kiyonga said earlier in December. The main opposition coalition, Cnared, says it hasn’t been invited.
Opening statements were broadcast on Uganda’s NBS Television yesterday. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was chosen as chief mediator by the five-nation EAC in July. The African Union, European Union and United Nations also support the negotiations.
Burundi, home to 6 percent of the world’s nickel reserves, descended into violence eight months ago, when Nkurunziza announced plans to run for re-election in a vote which he subsequently won. Opponents say he violated a two-term limit set out in accords that ended a civil war in 2005. The African Union seeks to send as many as 5,000 peacekeepers to quell the bloodshed, a move Burundi’s authorities have rejected. Fred Ojambo, Bloomberg