Mortar fire in the capital is the rebels' latest negotiating ploy but they've started talking too
After four quiet months, mortar bombs fell again on the northern suburbs of the capital, Bujumbura, on 31 May, destroying a house near the home of Vice-President Alice Nzomukundu. Optimists claim that this renewed attack, presumably by the Hutu rebel Parti pour la Libération du Peuple Hutu-Forces Nationales pour la Libération (Palipehutu-FNL), was intended to restate its tough stand as a preliminary to long-awaited negotiations with the government. It was also a blow against the United Nations and its Operation in Burundi (UNOB), which is pulling out troops and aiming for total withdrawal by the end of 2006.
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