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Burundi Seeks U.N. Urgent Meeting Condemning Rebel Attacks
Burundi on Friday urged the United Nations Security Council to convene an urgent meeting to adopt a resolution or a presidential statement to condemn the rebel attacks.
According to reports reaching here, government forces and rebel groups have been fighting for two days in hills southeast of Burundi's capital Bujumbura which has resulted in displacement of 20,000 people.
In a letter to the Security Council, Burundi's ambassador to the United Nations Narc Nteturuye said that attacks by main rebel groups of the National Liberation Forces and the Forces for the Defence of Democracy had threatened to derail the Arusha peace accord signed in August 28, 2000.
Nteturuye noted that it was possible to implement the Arusha peace accord without a ceasefire.
The United Nations would have difficulty in carrying out certain specific activities, including the sending of a protection and observation force to facilitate the implementation of the agreement without a ceasefire, the ambassador added.
Nteturuye asked the 15-member Security Council to meet before Monday when the parties to the Arusha peace accord are scheduled to meet in Arusha, Tanzania.
A U.N. spokesman said at noon brief that the council is expected to discuss the Burundi crisis late Friday.
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