An initial group of eight military observers from Togo, part of an African Union (AU) mission, arrived Wednesday in Burundi where the team will monitor a ceasefire, an AFP journalist reported.

The officers arrived in Bujumbura early in the morning, having travelled from Addis Ababa, where the AU has its headquarters.

Three of the four Hutu rebel groups fighting the Tutsi-led army in Burundi in a civil war which began in October 1993 have signed ceasefire accords with the government.

Some 35 military observers from Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Togo and Gabon were meant to have been in the country by February 11, but their arrival has been delayed by vaccination requirements.

The AU mission is also due to include a peacekeeping force made up of troops from South Africa, Mozambique and Ethiopia.

The size of this force has yet to be made clear.

A visit by defence ministers from these three countries scheduled for Wednesday was postponed without explanation.

The AU force will be responsible for protecting future cantonment areas for government soldiers and rebels.

There have been several ceasefire violations since the deal was struck in Arusha, northern Tanzania, in December.

Some 300,000 people have been killed in Burundi's civil war since it broke out in 1993 - Sapa-AFP.