Buyoya ends peace consultative talks in South Africa

Correction: Last paragraph should read The FDD is one of the two Hutu opposition groups that refused to sign the Arusha Peace Accord in August 2000. Burundi has been at civil war since 1993 when the democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, was killed in an attempted coup by the Tutsi-led army. He was the first Hutu to have been elected president after successive Tutsi military regimes. Article South African Vice-President Jacob Zuma has said he plans to hold a regional summit to bolster the peace effort in Burundi, Burundi President Pierre Buyoya said on Tuesday. Arriving at Bujumbura airport from South Africa, after talks with government leaders on the ongoing ceasefire in Burundi, Buyoya said Zuma wanted the summit in October during which he would ask regional leaders to "shoulder their responsibilities" in bringing peace to Burundi. Former South African president Nelson Mandela, the mediator in the Burundi peace talks, is due to report to the UN Security Council on progress in the ongoing peace talks, Buyoya said. Details are being worked out for an 18-month transitional government that is scheduled for inauguration on 1 November. In South Africa, Buyoya also met FRODEBU Secretary-General Domitien Ndayizeye who is vice-president designate for the transitional government that Buyoya will head. Meanwhile, Gabonese President Omar Bongo said in a radio broadcast on Tuesday that, if asked, he would host a meeting on the Burundi peace talks. His comments were in response to a request by the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (Forces pour la defense de la democratie), or the FDD, for Bongo to take charge of the military aspects of the Burundi peace talks, Gabon's Africa Number 1 radio reported. The FDD is one of the two Hutu opposition groups that refused to sign the Arusha Peace Accord in August 2000. Burundi has been at civil war since 1993 when the democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, was killed when his plane was shot down, allegedly by Hutu extremists.