Efforts to bring peace to war-stricken Burundi took a faltering step forward last night, as some leaders from the ruling Tutsi minority refused to sign a peace agreement designed to end the seven-year civil war.
Six of the 10 Tutsi parties rejected the peace deal following two years of talks in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha. However, it was signed by the largest Tuti party, led by President Pierre Buyoya, and by all parties from the Hutu ethnic group.
The peace deal would provide for increased Hutu participation in the army and parliament, currently dominated by Tutsis.
At the conclusion of exhaustive talks the mediator, Mr Nelson Mandela, launched a blistering attack on the leaders of the small Tutsi parties, whom he accused of "sabotaging" the peace process for venal and self-serving reasons.
"There is a section of the leadership which does not care for the slaughter of innocent people," the former South African president said. They were cosseted by riches and had lost touch with the realities of the civil war, which has claimed over 200,000 lives since 1993, he said.
"I doubt there are leaders like that in any part of the world," Mr Mandela said. "They do not want peace. They want to drag out these negotiations for eternity."
In contrast, the leaders of the Hutu parties who had agreed to sign the document were "men of honesty and integrity", he said, motioning to those seated in front of him.
The stinging rebuke of the Tutsi leaders took place in front of President Clinton, who had travelled to Arusha from Nigeria specially for the intended signing, and 12 African leaders, including Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya.
One of the main sticking points of the negotiations had been the lack of a ceasefire agreement between the government and the Hutu militia, who were not represented at the talks.
Mr Mandela, who said he agreed with the rebels' decision not to call a ceasefire until the peace process was "irreversible", compared their position to that of the IRA in Northern Ireland and the ANC in apartheid-era South Africa.
"That is what we did in South Africa," he said. "When they asked us to hand in our arms, we said `over our dead bodies, this is our trump card.' "
The rebels have demanded that all political prisoners in Burundi be released, which was a reasonable request, he said. Mr Mandela visited prisoners in June and they were being treated "worse than animals", he said. "My initial reaction was to wonder where were the God-fearing people in Burundi."
Mr Mandela will be hoping that his strong words will persuade the remaining Tutsi leaders to sign the peace deal, paving the way for negotiations with the Hutu rebels.
Tutsis are reluctant to concede power without a prior ceasefire, while Hutu rebels say they will not give up their arms without guarantees.
The part-failure of yesterday's talks was a crushing blow for Mr Mandela, who has invested heavily in the talks since taking over after the death of Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, the former mediator.
The weakened peace process has also created a dangerous power vacuum in Burundi. There was violence near the Burundi capital, Bujumbura, on Sunday night, with killings and mortar and grenade attacks.
Earlier yesterday, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group warned that extremists on both sides of the ethnic divide were "sharpening their knives" for a fresh wave of ethnic killing.
However, some African leaders who spoke after Mr Mandela last night vowed to prevent an ethnic genocide taking place in Burundi.