President optimistic about Peace Process

Burundi President Pierre Buyoya expressed optimism on Tuesday that the country's transition institutions would be set up by 1 November when an interim government is due to take office, the Hirondelle News Agency reported. The transitional government could begin functioning even if a special protection unit, which would guard returning political exiles and state institutions, were not in place by 1 November, he said. "If at the deadline this special unit is not set up, we will find another way to protect those who say they fear for their security," he told reporters at Bujumbura airport. He had been to South Africa for talks with Burundi peace mediator Nelson Mandela, government officials and leading members of Burundi's pro-Hutu opposition FRODEBU party. South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma is trying to broker a ceasefire between Burundi's Tutsi-led army and the Hutu anti-government forces, the CNDD-FDD and the FNL. Hirondelle reported a FRODEBU official as saying on Wednesday that the party's exiled leader, Jean Minani, and prospective vice-president of the transitional government, Domitien Ndayizeye, had discussed the establishment of the protection force with Buyoya in South Africa. The force is to be ethnically balanced and trained by foreign advisers. Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said in a BBC broadcast on Tuesday that details on the formation of this unit were still being worked out. News organizations quoted the European Union's special envoy to the Great Lakes region, Aldo Ajello, as saying on Saturday in Bujumbura that it was unlikely the force would be set up by 1 November. "We could envisage guaranteeing people's security by other means for a while. That's exactly what we're studying now," Hirondelle quoted him as saying.