Government hopes pact will bring renewed aid

Despite the limited endorsement of the peace pact, the government of Burundi hopes the international community will fully resume cooperation with the country, diplomatic sources told IRIN. “Politically, there are no more problems in lending support to the government and working with the President Buyoya, but it depends on the execution of what has been signed,” Georg Lennkh, the Austrian head of the Arusha commission on reconstruction and development, told IRIN. “Negotiations are not over yet, Mandela remains in charge, and we have to clarify the confusion created by the reservations in the agreement,” he added. Meanwhile, in an 29 August statement from Brussels, Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, said that “structural aid should resume gradually once the following conditions are met: active engagement of all parties in the peace negotiations and improvements in human rights and in the security situation”. He added that the Commission was already preparing the resumption of cooperation at the technical level and that future European Union support would look for a new model of development, based on the equitable sharing of the benefits of progress amongst all Burundians. Currently, Burundi only benefits from “enhanced humanitarian aid” from the international community. Prodi said EU “enhanced humanitarian aid” to Burundi represents 55 million Euros (about US $55 million). A technical meeting of international donors will take place on 15 September in Brussels in order to discuss on the latest developments, coordinate strategies and prepare a Round Table