Tanzania wants Burundi to deploy troops along border

Tanzanian Defence Minister Philemon Sarungi has said he would like Burundi to deploy soldiers along the border with his country to stop Hutu rebel infiltration instead of waiting for Tanzania to do the job, the Guardian, a privately owned Dar es Salaam newspaper, reported on Sunday. He told the newspaper during last week's summit of the Great Lakes on Burundi that Tanzania was "disturbed by frequent claims" that it was training and arming the Hutu rebels trying to overthrow the transitional government in Bujumbura. He said the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) was created to protect Tanzanian interests, and not Burundi's, along the common border. "We have a more than 400-km-long common border," he said. "We are unable to position TPDF troops throughout the border for the sake of stopping Burundi rebels from crossing over. To end the war of words, it is the duty of Burundi's armed forces to spread all over the border." However, he said that while the Tanzanian military would ensure the safety of that country's border, it would, where necessary, "extend support to Burundi troops". During the Monday summit of the Great Lakes held in Dar es Salaam, the leaders ordered Burundi's Hutu rebels - the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie of Pierre Nkurunziza, and the Force nationale de liberation of Khossan Kabura - to reach a ceasefire agreement with Bujumbura within 30 days, or face the consequences.