Mandela to hold talks with top EU officials

Burundi peace talks mediator and former South African President Nelson Mandela will meet European Union (EU) leaders next week, AP reported Monday. Mandela is due to arrive in Brussels on Monday to meet with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and other officials in an effort to secure financial backing for a peacekeeping mission for Burundi, which continues to be ravaged by conflict. Belgium currently holds the rotating EU presidency. Burundi has been embroiled in an 8-year civil war pitting Hutu rebels against the government and army, controlled by the country's Tutsi minority. As chief mediator, Mandela has been eager to move quickly and put in place peacekeepers to ensure that a peace agreement can be implemented. Under the plan to end the war, which has cost the lives of more than 200,000 people, international peacekeepers from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa are expected to mobilise once a cease-fire has been established. Meanwhile, a transitional power-sharing government is due to be installed on 1 November.