Military experts meet on planned peacekeeping operations

Senior military officers from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa are meeting in Bujumbura, Burundi, to review the security situation in the country and lay the groundwork for a small peacekeeping mission, Burundi army spokesman Colonel Augustine Nzabampema told IRIN. They will also review the composition of the force proposed under a peace accord signed in August 2000, he added. AFP quoted Burundi Defence Minister Maj-Gen Cyrille Ndayirukiye as saying the foreign delegation, members of the technical military committee set up under the accord, were in Burundi at the behest of Nelson Mandela, the mediator in the peace process. The committee is headed by the deputy eastern operations commander of the South African Defence Forces, General Lusse Yan. He said that the peacekeeping force would be strictly neutral in pursuit of its objective to stabilise the country, PANA reported. Despite recent fighting just 15 km from the capital, Ndyirikiye said at Monday's opening of the military technical committee meeting that there had been "significant" progress made in implementing the peace process under which new state institutions and a transitional government are due to be installed on 1 November. The committee's meeting is due to end on 4 or 5 October.