Not much progress at Arusha

The latest round of talks on the political future of Burundi has ended in the Tanzanian town of Arusha without significant progress, the BBC reported on Monday. It cited one of the mediators, Judge Mark Bomani as saying the two major issues had still not been resolved - namely agreement on a ceasefire and leadership of the transitional period. But the Hirondelle news agency also quoted Bomani as saying that he hoped discussions on a ceasefire would come to fruition soon. "We expect that in the very near future there will be some very positive results on that score," he told the 19 signatories to last year's Arusha peace accord. "What I am going to propose to the facilitator [former South African president Nelson Mandela] is that he convenes a meeting of heads of delegations or the signatories in the very near future, possibly next month, at which you can finally resolve any aspects of the matter that have not been resolved."