Burundi president appeals to opposition in exile

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza appealed Friday for the first time to opposition leaders in exile to return home and begin a dialogue, in a speech to mark the country's independence. "We use this occasion to launch an appeal to opposition leaders in exile to return to Burundi," Nkurunziza said in a speech in the native Kirundi language on the 49th anniversary of Burundi's independence from Belgium. "We are ready to talk with them, to have a dialogue with them, so that we can together build our country and prepare properly for general elections in 2015," he said in the speech broadcast overnight. The president added he would not engage in talks that question past election results which touched off years of violence, a reference to the assassination of the country's first democratically elected president in 1993, which triggered a long civil war. The Burundi government on May 31 rejected an offer by an opposition alliance for negotiations, accusing it of wanting to take political advantage of violent clashes in recent months. Opposition figures went undercover or fled the country after Nkurunziza won an election last year. The opposition also claims hundreds of its members have been arrested and some killed. Escalating violence has raised fears of a resumption of all-out conflict in Burundi after a civil war which left nearly 300,000 dead between 1993 and 2006.