Mandela wants peace accord in four months

The Arusha peace talks continued on Tuesday with the mediator Nelson Mandela telling the parties that a peace agreement should be finalised within four months. Independent sources attending the talks told IRIN there was a consensus that this deadline was feasible. "There is a climate of agreement in sight. You can see people positioning themselves," the sources said. Burundi's Peace Process Minister Ambroise Niyonsaba told IRIN he believed an agreement could be reached "very soon". "The remaining
issues are not contentious and the only problem is that the [main] rebels are not involved," he said. For his part, the rebel CNDD's Leonce Ndarubagiye said the sides had moved from "generalities to specifics".

"The real issues are now on the table," he said. "A give and take process is now possible and that doesn't take long."

The EU envoy to the Great Lakes, Aldo Ajello, expressed the belief that the four month deadline was realistic as much work had already been done over the past 18 months. "Mandela's character, experience and moral authority have injected a new spirit into the process," he told IRIN.

Before leaving for Arusha on Monday, Burundian President Pierre Buyoya reiterated his commitment to the negotiations and stressed they should be completed within a "reasonable period". In a message to the opening session, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said a peace agreement in Burundi would depend on the restoration of stability to the Great Lakes region,
particularly in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). French President Jacques Chirac meanwhile urged the international community to resume economic aid to Burundi as a way of advancing the prospects for peace. AFP said that in a message read out by Cooperation Minister Charles
Josselin, Chirac added that once a peace deal had been struck, France could help Burundi with the reinsertion of demobilised soldiers into civilian life and reinforcing a state of law. US President Bill Clinton was due to address the meeting on Tuesday by satellite link.