Burundi approves truth commission

Hundreds of thousands have been killed in decades of conflict

Burundi has approved a United Nations plan for a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate more than four decades of ethnic conflict.

Justice Minister Didace Kiganahe said the proposals reflected the concerns of his people to establish what happened and to punish the guilty.

The body was part of a peace deal to end the most recent civil war between majority Hutus and the Tutsi elite.

The next step is for a UN Security Council resolution to approve the plan.

Then the UN and Burundi would negotiate and work together to set up the commission.

It will have five members, two of whom will be Burundians.

At least 250,000 have died since the latest war started in 1993.

A transitional power-sharing government has been set up, including all but one of the Hutu rebel groups.

The first in a series of elections was held this month to mark the end of the conflict.

Former Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) rebels won more than half of the seats in local elections.

Although the last rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL) has signed a truce, attacks continue.

This week, the army said that seven people had been killed in FNL attacks near the capital, Bujumbura.