Domitien Ndayizeye, who leads the country's largest Hutu party, leads the transitional government.

They include 10 Tutsi political parties, 7 Hutu parties, the Tutsi-dominated army and the Burundi government.

Some of the men executed were members of the main Hutu political party, Frodebu, or associated with it.

By December, political infighting had divided the opposition Hutu parties into moderates and hard-liners.

Facing widespread massacres of Tutsi civilians, the coup leaders stepped down in 1994 and agreed to an interim power-sharing Government with the main Hutu party.

The leader of Burundi's largest Hutu party today repeated a call for such a force.

It was almost immediately banned by the government, which accused it of being a radical Hutu party.

In Burundi, however, the Tutsi upper class held on to power, often through terror, despite many attempts by Hutu parties to wrest political control.

The writer said the two were working with the Coalition for the Defense of the Republic, a radical Hutu party.

Hutu parties easily won the presidency.