Burundi's last active rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), announced Wednesday it would immediately stop attacking government troops and their allies and that it was willing to consider holding peace talks.

The central African country's power-sharing government immediately welcomed the move.

The FNL's congress, meeting in Tanzania, "has just decided there will be an immediate halt to hostilities. We will not attack the army and the FDD (Forces for the Defence of Democracy, a former rebel group now allied to the government) but if they attack us, will we respond," FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana told AFP.

"The government salutes this development which is significant," said government spokesman Onesime Nduwimana.

The government "can only rejoice and is waiting for the FNL to act on the decision. As for the government, it is always ready to negotiate with the FNL whenever they want," he added.

If the FNL "has just stopped hostilities, it means the war will stop right away," he added.

"Government troops are only defending themselves. If they are not attacked, they will not attack," he pledged.

More than 300,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in Burundi since 1993 when a variety of armed groups drawn from the country's large Hutu majority, many of which split over subsequent years, took up arms against the Tutsi-led government.

The FNL spokesman added that the rebel group would consult with the United Nations, the European Union and the United States to help facilitate possible peace talks.

"We don't trust the government, but that doesn't mean we are refusing to talk to it," explained Augustin Ntawogeza, the head of the FNL's external relations.

"As (President Domitien) Ndayizeye is incapable of stopping the war, because power has long been in the hands of a (Tutsi) clique, only the international community can oblige him to stop hostilities," he said.

"The FNL doesn't want the war, it wants it to stop," he added.

On March 26, Habimana said FNL leader Rwasa Agathon had made a "first contact" with South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the chief mediator in Burundi's peace process and that the telephone discussion had gone well.

"The issue of negotiations was not brought up", said the spokesman.

The FNL is estimated to have some 3,000 men under arms.

The rebel group had until recently refused even to meet the current power-sharing administration, a coalition of 17 parties, both Hutu and Tutsi, saying it was only worth talking to the Tutsi leaders of the army who, according to the rebels, wield true power in the country.

But it changed its tune early this year and met in the Netherlands with Ndayizeye -- himself a Hutu but whom the FNL has accused of being a lackey of the Tutsis.

A month later, however, the FNL refused to hold a second meeting with Ndayizeye, saying he had not held up his end of the deal the rebels insist was struck in the Netherlands - Sapa-AFP.