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Regional Leaders to Push for Swift Implementation of Burundi Peace Accord
South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma announced Sunday in Dar es Salaam that the heads of state of the Great Lakes region will push for the swift implementation of the Arusha peace accord at an upcoming summit aimed at restoring peace in war-torn Burundi.
The visiting deputy president made the announcement during talks with his host, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, in a brief one-day visit, according to a statement issued by the State House of Tanzania.
The Great Lakes regional heads of state, due to meet in Tanzania's northern town of Arusha on July 23, will make crucial decisions on the future of the tiny central African state, Zuma was quoted as saying.
According to Zuma, Burundi rebels are still reluctant to agree to a cease-fire despite the ongoing negotiations.
He said negotiations are still proceeding with the two main Hutu rebel forces, CNDD-FDD and FNL, to convince the groups to lay down their arms and allow the proposed transitional government to work.
During the talks, Mkapa noted with satisfaction at the progress made so far in the regional efforts aimed at restoring peace in Burundi and pledged to continue supporting the initiative.
Zuma, who has been assisting the international facilitator for Burundi peace process, former South African president Nelson Mandela, in the cease-fire negotiations along with President Omar Bongo of Gabon, left here Sunday afternoon for similar consultations with leaders of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Regional leaders are backing negotiations led by Mandela to re- establish peace in Burundi, where more than 250,000 civilians have been killed in ethnic fighting between ethnic majority Hutu rebels and the minority Tutsi-dominated government and army since 1993.
In a peace accord signed last August in Arusha, 19 Burundian parties agreed on a three-year transition to democracy.
However, the peace deal failed to include CNDD-FDD and FNL, and fighting has intensified.
After long talks aimed at securing a cease-fire agreement between the Burundi army and the rebels, Mandela announced last week that the 19 negotiating parties of Burundi have agreed on a three-year transitional government leading to democratic elections.
Burundian President Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi who seized power in a 1996 coup, will head the transitional government for 18 months, and then will hand over to a Hutu president for the next 18 months.
Buyoya has agreed that peacekeeping troops be deployed in Burundi once a cease-fire is achieved.
South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana have expressed their willingness to send peacekeeping troops, in response to Mandela's call.
Last week, the defense ministers of these countries met in Pretoria, South Africa to plan the deployment.
The summit on July 23 is expected to decide the timetable for setting up the transitional government for Burundi.
However, analysts have warned that the peace deal still faces problems because the two main rebel groups involved in the fighting have continued to reject it.
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