UN bids for "safe quarter" for relief work

An initiative is underway to bring together the leaders of the major armed rebel groups in one place, sometime in the next two to three months, to discuss humanitarian activities, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Burundi, Kathleen Cravero-Kristofferson said. The purpose was "to talk about a safe quarter for humanitarian work and to ensure that all parties to the Burundian conflict understood the non-partisan nature of humanitarian assistance," she told a press conference in New York at the weekend. However, "an active effort was underway to allow the resumption of suspended activities" and there were plans to send an inter-agency mission to Burundi, probably in January. The mission would look at security arrangements and ascertain whether the UN could increase its operations. On the Rutana attack of 12 October, in which two UN workers died, there were many theories regarding "who was waiting for whom", but a UN security investigation had concluded that the definitive answer would probably never be known, Cravero-Kristofferson said.