A Hutu rebel group said on Monday it would end a boycott of Burundi's peace process and enter talks with the president, boosting hopes for an end to a war that has destabilised Africa's Great Lakes for a decade.
The group, the extremist Forces for National Liberation (FNL), had been the last remaining Hutu faction to reject peace talks after a string of other movements joined reconciliation efforts backed by Tanzania and South Africa.
Its move means all Hutu groups that have struggled for a decade to end the political dominance of minority Tutsis are now in some way part of efforts to end a civil war that has stirred fears of ethnic massacres such as Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
"We accepted to talk to President (Domitien) Ndayizeye because he personally called us and said he was ready to listen to us," FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana told Reuters.
"We want to prove to all Burundians and the international community that the place of the FNL in the Burundi peace process is of paramount importance, that peace will never be achieved in Burundi without the involvement of FNL."