Mandela's Proposal on Burundian Transitional Leadership AdoptedThe Great Lakes Regional Summit on Burundi Monday endorsed a plan proposed by international mediator and former South African President Nelson Mandela on the thorny issue of transitional leadership in Burundi.In a communique issued late Monday evening at the end of the one-day meeting held in Tanzania's northern town of Arusha, the summit agreed to split the transition period into two, during which the minority Tutsis are to lead the country for the first 18 months and the majority Hutus take charge thereafter. However, the meeting failed to broker a deal on who will lead Burundi during a three-year transitional period. Since Mandela convinced the 19 warring parties in Burundi to sign a power-sharing agreement last August, one of the main stumbling blocks to implement the peace process has been the apparent impossibility of the warring parties to agree on a transition leader. The new proposal, therefore, has been regarded by some diplomats as a step forward to solve the problem. The summit also appealed to the United Nations Security council to provide all-round support and assistance to the efforts of the regional initiative and the facilitator and in particular to expedite the dispatch of peacekeepers and protection aides to Burundi as soon as there is a suspension of the hostilities. Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa chaired the summit which was attended by presidents of Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi and vice-presidents of Uganda, South Africa and Gabon. Since 1993 the civil conflicts between the Tutsi-led government and the Hutu rebels have claimed an estimated 200,000 lives in Burundi. |
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