Zuma arrives in Bujumbura as UN withdraws nonessential staff

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma arrived in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, on Thursday to discuss the peace process in the country, two days after the UN began withdrawing non-essential staff from the city because of fighting between rebel and government troops. Zuma's office reported from Johannesburg that the visit was part of a mission to the Great Lakes region to discuss the peace process in Burundi. Zuma, who is the facilitator of the peace process, is scheduled to meet President Domitien Ndayizeye and other senior government officials before leaving for South Africa later on Thursday. The associate spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, said on Wednesday in New York that the UN had allowed for the relocation, out of the country, of all international staff not directly concerned with emergency, humanitarian relief operations or security matters. However, Dujarric said internally displaced people (IDPs) would continue to receive food and other aid provided by the UN through partner NGOs. Fighting in the southern suburbs of Bujumbura began on 7 July when Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) rebels loyal to Agathon Rwasa shelled the city. The Burundi army reported 325 dead since the fighting began, Thousands of civilians have been displaced. Relative calm has been reported in the city since Monday although the atmosphere remains tense. Returning on Wednesday from a tour to Europe, President Ndayizeye appealed to the UN to maintain its staff in the capital, saying the decision to evoke Phase-Four - a security alert before total withdrawal - was regrettable. Privately-owned Radio Bonesha quoted Ndayizeye as saying the UN's decision was taken out of fear. "The first reaction should not have been for people to leave the country," he said. "UN organisations should instead first support the Burundi people instead of leaving whenever the situation becomes difficult." Most of the fighting around Bujumbura took place while Ndayizeye was visiting several European countries where he was reported to have lobbied for continued support to his country, especially with regard to the ongoing peace process. Bonesha FM reported that although Ndayizeye was unable to shorten his European visit, he said that he had "done everything he could do" to contain the situation from where he was, with help from the officials of the countries he visited. "Our wish is to see communication and consultations taking place between the government and those organisations [UN] in order to inform them about the measures we take every time such events crops up, in Bujumbura and elsewhere, so that everybody can feel reassured," the radio quoted the president as saying. UN News reported that the UN resident coordinator in Burundi, Sunil Saigal, had said that the decision to remove the staff arose from "the events of last week". "It's something nobody is happy to do," he said. "One has to understand it's not something we do in panic." About 100 international UN staff are in Bujumbura. Saigal said the heads of UN agencies in the country would decide who among the staff would leave.