again in July during the parliamentary elections, postponed from November 2004, in which "the Government of Burundi and the Independent National Electoral Commission conducted a sound election, carried out in an atmosphere of peace and security." The Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) ended up winning the parliamentary elections. Several months later, Pierre Nkurunziza from the Hutu FDD group was elected as president by the two Hutu-dominated houses of parliament. After 12 years of living with a midnight-to-dawn curfew, Burundians were free to stay out late when the curfew was lifted on April 15, 2006, for the first time since 1993. This signified the most stable point in Burundian civil affairs since the assassination of Hutu President Melchior Ndadaye and the beginning of the civil war. Matters continued to look promising after Burundi's last rebel group, the FNL, signed a ceasefire deal in Tanzania, "solidifying the end of a 12-year civil war." As part of the agreement, members of the FNL were to be assembled, demobilized, and integrated into the national army. Dissident parts of the FNL, most notably the National Liberation Forces – Icanzo (FNL–Icanzo), continued their insurgency, however, and only surrendered later on. In mid-April 2008, FNL rebels shelled the then-capital, Bujumbura, while fighting killed at least 33. Use of child soldiers Children were recruited and used extensively by both sides during the civil war of 1993–2005. The Burundian military regularly conscripted children between the ages of 7 and 16 for its militias, most importantly the Guardians of the Peace. It would threaten the parents with violence or fines to hand over their sons to the army, and the child soldiers themselves were often beaten during training. Thousands of child soldiers fought for the government in the civil war, though the exact number is not known. Hundreds were killed in combat. The Hutu rebels were also known to deploy large numbers of child soldiers; hundreds of child soldiers were in the FNL by 2004. As the Guardians of the Peace recruited ex-rebels into their ranks, some rebel child soldiers also fought for the government after their surrender or capture. The recruitment of child soldiers by the military had been reduced by 2000. After the peace agreements brought the conflict to an end in 2005, the new constitution committed to not using children in direct combat. The parties to the conflict no longer recruited children in large numbers,