President Ndayizeye wants African troops to help end the war

African heads of state engaged in a regional peace initiative for Burundi are due to meet on Sunday to discuss sending more African troops to the country.

Speaking during a visit to the country, chief peace mediator, South African deputy president, Jacob Zuma said on Thursday, the Hutu rebel group the National Liberation Forces (FNL) would not be invited to the summit.

He repeated warnings to the rebels that if violence continues, sanctions would be imposed.

"The authorities in Burundi are determined to end the violence and to bring the FNL to the negotiating table," Mr Zuma said.

Earlier this month, FNL rebels launched the fiercest assault on the capital, Bujumbura, since the country's civil war began in 1993.

BURUNDI WAR Some 300,000 killed since 1993 Tutsi minority dominated since independence Hutu rebels demand army reform Nelson Mandela power-sharing plan failed to stop fighting Burundi's elusive peace

More than 300, mostly civilians, were killed before the offensive subsided at the end of last week.

The 3,000 troops in Burundi, comprising South African and Mozambican forces, are currently only authorised to use force in self-defence.

But their mandate is limited to facilitating the demobilisation of fighters from rebel groups which, unlike the FNL, have reached ceasefire deals with the government.

"I met Burundi's military officers, the speaker of the senate and national assembly, the president and vice president, and all agreed that, given what has been going on, the mandate of the African Force must be revised to deal with the current situation," Mr Zuma said to reporters,

The FNL, which is drawn from the Hutu ethnic majority, has long refused to talk to Burundi's transitional government, insisting that its only viable interlocutors are the minority Tutsi commanders of the army and top Tutsi politicians.

FDD

Another rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), believed to be bigger than the FNL, and which signed a ceasefire with the government is more active around the capital and its participation in the peace process would be a huge boost.

Mr Zuma says sanctions must be imposed if violence continues

But on Tuesday, FDD rebels were blamed for a reported attack on two homes in eastern Burundi, in which the ears of two women were cut off.

According to the Burundi news agency, ABP, the women were hospitalised, while their husbands were taken hostage by the rebels.

Burundi's civil war has for 10 years pitted rebels from the Hutu majority against their Tutsi rivals, who control the military and held sway over the government.

After a lengthy peace process, an interim power-sharing regime was installed in November 2001 and in May this year Domitien Ndayizeye, a moderate Hutu, took over as the country's president.

He has so far been unable to halt the violence.