First step to peace is temporary truce, says ICG

The immediate objective of the facilitation team for Burundi's ongoing civil war, the country's donors, the UN secretary-general and leaders in the Great Lakes region must be the negotiation of a truce between the army and rebel forces, in order to allow humanitarian aid to reach the tens of thousands of displaced people in the country, says the analysis and advocacy body, the International Crisis Group (ICG).

Only then will their longer-term objective - the negotiation of chapter III of the Arusha accord pertaining to a permanent ceasefire and reform of the security forces - be feasible.

In a new report entitled "Burundi after six months of transition: Continuing the War or Winning Peace?" the ICG noted the lack of progress made in securing peace in Burundi, coupled with the fact that six months after the installation of the transitional government, the implementation of the Arusha accords had not yet begun.

"To allow the Arusha accord to be taken hostage by the ceasefire issue is to condemn Burundi's chance for peace. It will only be through political consistency and concrete reforms that the reason for the rebels to fight will finally disappear," Francois Grignon, the ICG's Central Africa Project director, said.

ICG noted that the recent ceasefire negotiations in South Africa had not produced "a single concrete result", but that the facilitation team - headed by former South African President, Nelson Mandela and Deputy President Jacob Zuma, and assisted by presidents Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Omar Bongo of Gabon - was not solely to blame. There were powerful elements within Burundi who simply had no interest in ending the war, said ICG, as well as differing opinions among the parties to the conflict as to the purpose of ceasefire negotiations.

At the same time, however, "a multi-headed facilitation team working rapidly and in an ad hoc manner" was not conducive to obtaining peace, the group said. It recommended that the roles of the facilitation team be clarified and that a logistical team provide full-time support to it to give the rebels the confidence, space and means to negotiate firstly among themselves, then with the government.

The rebel Forces pour la defense de la democratie and Forces nationales de liberation - which were not signatories of the Arusha accord - must cease all attacks and guerilla operations against the Burundi army and cease all relations with the Rwandan dissident Armee de Liberation du Rwanda, ICG said. They must then start truce negotiations, in order to allow humanitarian agencies to access the tens of thousands of displaced in the country.

Meanwhile, the Burundi government must, among other things, immediately cease hostilities against the rebel groups to allow them to negotiate, says ICG. Elements of the Arusha accord pertaining to the recommendations of the international commission of inquiry on political prisoners, the reshuffle of all governors and representatives of the territorial administration, and the establishment of the Burundi protection unit comprising 50 percent Hutu and 50 percent Tutsi members must also be implemented.

The full report is available at: www.crisisweb.org