Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa has called upon all parties involved in the Burundi conflict to continue with negotiations.

The president told a visiting Burundi delegation Saturday that negotiations should continue on the condition that a facilitator could be found to succeed Tanzania's former president Julius Nyerere, the paper said.

While meeting with the Burundian delegation led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Severin Ntahomvukiye, Mkapa also made it clear that Tanzania did not mind whether the negotiations continue to be held in Tanzania or somewhere else.

Tanzania does not want to be seen as an obstructionist of the Burundi peace process, the Sunday Observer newspaper quoted the president as saying.

In his remarks, the Burundi minister said that his government is willing to continue with the negotiations since there is no other choice.

A political dialog is the only way to reach a lasting political solution in Burundi,Ntahomvukiye said, expressing his hope that a new mediator could be appointed as soon as possible.

Since Tutsi paratroopers assassinated Burundi's first Hutu president in October 1993, an estimated 200,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in fighting between the Hutu rebels and the Tutsi-dominated army. The year-long peace talks aimed at ending the conflict have come to a standstill following the death last month of former Tanzanian President Nyerere, who was an active mediator in the Burundi peace process.

Burundian President Pierre Buyoya has asked South Africa to take up the mediator's role. But South Africa has not given a definite candidate.