Opening of the 22nd session of the IMC begins

A senior UN official in Burundi called on Thursday for members of the Arusha Implementation and Monitoring Committee of the Arusha Accord for Peace and Reconciliation to engage actively in promoting dialogue among politicians in order to hold free and fair elections in April 2005. The official, Carolyn McAskie, is the UN secretary-general's representative in Burundi. She also chairs the committee. She was speaking on Thursday at the opening of the committee's 22nd session in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. She told delegates that the two key issues were to ensure a smooth electoral process and a peaceful management strategy for the remaining period of the transitional period. This, she said, required those involved to understand the need for the coordination of all actions carried out at different levels, such as security, disarmament and the registration of former armed movements as political parties. "They depend on one another," she said. Among the issues being discussed by the committee is the request by former armed movements to be registered as political parties. McAskie said they should be given time to prepare for the elections. In a news conference last week, five former armed movements demanded that the government recognise them as political parties because they want equal opportunities and would not accept being registered just one week before elections. On Thursday, 12 political parties and former armed movements called for the formation of a government of national unity open to all political types. Senator Elie Sabuwanka of Front de liberation National (Frolina) said a new government should be formed after Sunday because "the government in place has been marked by political incoherencies". The political parties also demand a new administration not exclusively composed of members from the three key players, Uprona, Frodebu and the CNDD–FDD faction of Pierre Nkurunziza. The transition period ends on 1 November, but the interim constitution endorsed by the National Assembly and Senate, in their joint session on Wednesday, allows the country institutions to remain in place until new leaders are elected.