Burundi's political crisis broke out in April 2015 when President
Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term, a move opponents
said violated the constitution.
Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza and First Lady Denise Nkurunziza
stand during the ceremony in tribute of the former late President
Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza at the national congress palace in
Bujumbura, Burundi May 16, 2016.
Burundi's
government said on Thursday it would attend regional talks this weekend
aimed at ending a year-long cycle of violence that has claimed about 450
lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Mediated by the East African Community
(EAC), a regional body of which Burundi is a member, the talks have
been repeatedly postponed since a first meeting in December, with the
government refusing to share a table with what it considers insurgent
groups.
Spokesman Willy Nyamitwe said that restriction still applied, but added: "We have received an invitation and we will go."
Burundi's political crisis broke out in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term, a move opponents said violated the constitution.
After
putting down an attempted coup in May led by generals opposed to his
continued rule, he was re-elected in July, supported by a favourable
court ruling.
Violence has steadily escalated
since, with tit-for-tat killings between Nkurunziza's security forces
and rebels who took up arms against his government.
The
next phase of talks is due to take place on Saturday in Arusha in
neighbouring Tanzania, under the mediation of that country's former
president Benjamin Mkapa.
One opposition party,
the CNDD, told Reuters it would attend, while others had yet to confirm
their presence. The government recognises the CNDD as a legitimate
interlocutor.
Burundian police estimate more than
450 people have been killed since the unrest began while about a quarter
of million have fled to neighbouring states.
At
least three anti-Nkurunziza armed rebel groups have emerged and the
government has accused neighbouring Rwanda of backing some of them.
Rwanda denies the accusations.
The bloodshed in
Burundi has stoked fears the crisis could destabilise a region still
reeling from the Rwandan genocide in 1994 in which an estimated 800,000
Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in about 100 days.
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