Editor,

RE: "Burundi's undefined peace talks (will fail)” (The New Times, January 10).

There is little ground for negotiation when one side is convinced it holds all the cards and can get everything it wants without giving away anything in return.

It is also impossible to have genuine negotiations if one side is fractured and has no clearly identifiable structure with easily identifiable leaders to collate varied views and interest within their side and help to develop consensus internally in order to bring a common position to the negotiating table.

It must also have credible means of threatening the other side with tangible consequences if the other side refuses to come to that table and negotiate seriously for that compromise.

The Nkurunziza camp may be in power in contravention of the Burundi constitution and therefore illegal; it is also acting thoroughly criminally by committing some of the most heinous atrocities against those of its citizens who refuse to bow to this illegality in order to cow the rest into accepting the fait accompli.

The world may observe what is happening in Burundi with revulsion, and exiled Burundians may fulminate and demonstrate and call on the world to ban the illegal and criminal Nkurunziza government from the community of states.

But, the 64-million dollar question remains: do the conditions now exist in Burundi or does the opposition even have the means to create such conditions on the ground in such a way as to make Nkurunziza's side believe that it really needs to engage in genuine negotiations rather than simply face down its opposition and its international critics?

Mwene Kalinda