Eight Tutsi-dominated political parties in Burundi have accused the new peace mediator, Nelson Mandela, of bias in favour of Burundi's Hutu majority.

In a statement issued in the Tanzanian town of Arusha after high-level peace talks earlier this week, the parties rejected Mr Mandela's statement that peace and stability could not be achieved while the Tutsi minority retained a monopoly on power.

"These conclusions tend to imply that the basis of the Burundi conflict is the political, economic and military domination of the minority Tutsi group over the majority Hutu one," the statement said.

"This theory could generate tension and the risk of confrontation in the country, which might jeopardise the chances of success for the peace process."

They said they would watch to see what Mr Mandela's draft peace plan had to say on the issue.

Demonstration

Other Tutsi parties in Burundi have said they would stage a demonstration against Mr Mandela's remarks on Saturday.

President Pierre Buyoya has brought Hutus into his government in the name of power-sharing, but they are not seen as representative of the Hutu majority.

During this week's peace talks, Mr Mandela said unrest would continue in Burundi unless the Tutsi minority relinquished its monopoly on power.

Tutsis dominate the government and the military, although 84% of Burundi's 6m inhabitants are Hutu.

Leaders of the main Hutu rebel group did not attend the Arusha talks, which brought together heads of state from several East and Southern African nations.

Mr Mandela warned that the absence of key rebel groups was a serious drawback to hopes of ending the six-year war between the army and rebels.

Slow process

The Arusha round of talks began in June 1998, bringing together 18 delegations from Burundi's government, parliament, opposition parties and some rebel groups.

They made little progress and did nothing to stop the bloodshed, which began in 1993 after the assassination of the country's first elected Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye.

Mr Mandela assumed the leadership of the peace process following the death of former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, who had previously chaired the talks.

Most Burundians are peasant farmers who have suffered enormously.

More than a million people have been displaced by the war and more than 200,000 killed since 1993.

More than 345,000 Hutus remained confined in army-run camps and restricted from tending their land during the year's main planting season.

There are many issues to be hammered out in Arusha, including the questions of amnesties and how to integrate rebels into the army.