Nine years into a bloody civil war, hopes for peace were ignited in Burundi yesterday when the Tutsi-led government signed a ceasefire with the main Hutu rebel group.
President Pierre Buyoya and Pierre Nkurunziza of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) signed the breakthrough deal, the fruit of months of torturous negotiations, in neighbouring Tanzania.
"We would like to see peace in Burundi," promised Mr Nkurunziza, who is due to start talks on power-sharing measures next month. But an end to war is by no means guaranteed.
Although the deal throws a lifeline to the increasingly brittle transitional government, formed under Nelson Mandela one year ago, it fails to include the smaller National Liberation Front (FNL) rebels.
Instead of entering talks, the 3,000-strong FNL remains perched on the hills above the capital, Bujumbura, from where it regularly shells the city outskirts or mounts guerrilla attacks on army positions. The Tutsi-led army responds with equal, or often greater, violence.
Yesterday regional leaders threatened to use sanctions to force the FNL into talks. When asked for details of talks, chairman Mr Yoweri Museveni of Uganda said: "You will see."
According to estimates, war in the tiny central African nation has claimed between 200,000 and 300,000 lives since 1993.
The interminable peace talks have severely taxed the patience of the 14-nation mediation team. Yesterday's deal "did not come easily," admitted South African vice-president Jacob Zuma. But if the best case scenario works, the truce could be the elusive key to peace. The FDD, with an estimated15,000 fighters, has been one of the main obstacles to ending the war.
Many ordinary Burundians are sick of both Hutu and Tutsi combatants, who commit frequent and brutal human rights atrocities. They also have little faith in their politicians.
Under current plans, President Buyoya has agreed to hand power to a Hutu next May. But myriad dangers lie ahead.
Failure to secure an FNL disarmament, voluntarily or by force, could easily derail the fragile transitional government.
"This deal is a good sign," said a well-informed Burundian source yesterday. "But in this country, anything can happen."