South Africa to be asked for protection troops

Emerging from a five-nation summit on Burundi, chief mediator Nelson Mandela said on Thursday he would ask South African President Thabo Mbeki to send special protection troops to Burundi quickly so that political exiles could return home early next week, AP reported. The exiled politicians are expected to take part in the transitional government due to be set up on 1 November. An all-Burundian force, made up of equal numbers of Hutu and Tutsi personnel, has not yet been set up to protect the politicians and guard state establishments. It is for this reason that South Africa and three other African countries are being considered for the immediate establishment of the security team. Mandela said that the Pretoria summit agreed that an all-Burundi force - whose formation has been one of the major sticking points in laying the groundwork for the smooth installation of the power-sharing government - would take over protection duties after calm had been assured by the South African force. Reuters reported that the Burundi government and the opposition Hutu groups disagreed on whether or not to include armed Hutu rebels in the force. Mandela said despite a pledge of US $400 million by donor countries once a transitional government had been installed and a cease-fire was declared, Burundi's leaders appeared unhurried to end the eight-year civil war that has claimed some 200,000 lives, AP reported. Thursday's summit, called to resolve disagreements between the government and rebels, was attended by the presidents of Burundi, Congo, Gabon, Uganda and Tanzania; as well as representatives of Ghana, Libya, Malawi, and Rwanda. Burundi's main anti-government groups, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy and the National Liberation Front were at the meeting. Neither is a signatory to the Arusha peace agreement on Burundi signed in August 2000.