Future hinges on transitional government, report says

Analysts say the future of Burundi hinges on the relative success of the new transitional government, due to be installed on 1 Nov. In his latest report, Burundi expert Jan Van Eck of the Pretoria-based Centre for International Political Studies said the installation of this government constitutes a critical moment in the history of the country. He said it remained to be seen how many prominent exiled leaders would return to the country. "Without their participation it would be difficult to create a truly broad-based transitional government," he said. "The future of Burundi depends on whether this latest attempt at power sharing will succeed or fail", he said, adding that the Arusha peace process was flawed because it had failed to include the two-armed rebellions. This failure will remain the "fatal shortcoming" of the peace process, and will continue to challenge its legitimacy, he said. But despite all the obstacles, the transitional government "has no choice but to try and succeed". If members of the government can restore the belief that Burundians can actually work together in a spirit of compromise, they will lay the foundations upon which a new Burundi can be built. Van Eck urged countries of the region to let Burundi resolve its own problems and desist from imposing their solutions on the Burundian parties. He added that the international community had to demonstrate "immediately, visibly and concretely" its support "for this new and courageous attempt to create a new power-sharing transitional government". [Copies of the report are available from J. Pretorius at the Centre for International Political Studies: [email protected]]