Buyoya sets out priorities

Topmost on the list of priorities for Burundi's transitional government inaugurated on Thursday will be to secure a permanent cease-fire and protect the lives and properties of its citizens, President Pierre Buyoya said shortly after he was sworn into office to head the new administration during this first 18 months of a three-year government. "I am appealing to the countries of the subregion, the facilitating team, the international community and all those who have been involved with our peace process to continue helping us so that the cease-fire can be arrived at as soon as possible," he said. Two pro-Hutu rebel groups - the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (known as the CNDD-FDD), and the Parti pour la liberation du people Hutu-Forces nationales de liberation (known as the PALIPEHUTU-FNL) - stand outside the broad-based government inaugurated in Bujumbura before a gathering of African presidents and other dignitaries. Describing the establishment of the new government as an "extremely important step" in the effort to re-establish peace in Burundi, Buyoya said his team would back this by holding communal-level and council elections within 18 months. Senatorial elections will be held during the second half of the government's term. Immediately after that, the national assembly and Senate will convene to elect the first president in the post-transitional phase of government. Before then, he said, the transitional government and state institutions would rehabilitate the victims of disasters, repatriate refugees and rebuild infrastructure destroyed during the eight-year civil war in which at least 200,000 died. In addition, he said, mechanisms would be put in place to root out and solve the problems that led the nation to war. For this, he said, the government would seek help from the UN Security Council to create an international judicial commission of inquiry into genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity. The government, he added, would also set up a national truth and reconciliation commission. "Lastly," he added, "we intend to undertake all the necessary reforms to re-establish confidence in all Burundi citizens. To achieve this goal, a series of reforms in the administration, the judiciary and security institutions will be taken." Reactions to the new government Reaction to the creation of the new government has been generally positive. Vice-President Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu, said he was satisfied because "all the signatories" to the August 2000 Arusha peace agreement agreed to participate in the state institutions. "I am delighted that the president and myself agreed on the cabinet which, in my view, has the necessary assets to give hope to the Burundian people. For its part, Amnesty International called on the new government to ensure that allegations of human rights violation by its own forces are "investigated impartially and independently". It also recommended that the government "organise and encourage" debate on key human rights issues around the conflict so as to promote a central role for human rights in the transitional process and prevent rights violations. "Prompt lawful action should be taken against any political or community leaders who incite political or ethnic violence or human rights abuses," it said. Delivering a message on behalf of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, his Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Berhanu Dinka, said in Bujumbura: "All of us are hopeful that this will usher in a new era in which the country's governance is informed by Africa's traditional values of tolerance and solidarity, and based on a constitutional framework that will accommodate diversity, engender mutual trust, and guarantee durable peace with justice and security for all."