Annan, 11 African heads expected for meeting

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and 11 African heads of state are expected in Arusha, Tanzania next Monday for a Great Lakes summit on Burundi, the Internews press service reported on Tuesday. It quoted Judge Mark Bomani, the special representative of the facilitator of the Burundi talks [Nelson Mandela], as saying that invited heads of state included South African President Thabo Mbeki, Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, Gabon's Omar Bongo and DRC's Joseph Kabila. Others are Kenya's Daniel arap Moi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Zambia's Frederick Chiluba, Burundi's Pierre Buyoya, Rwanda's Paul Kagame, the host Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni who is also chairman of the Great Lakes Initiative on Burundi.

Bomani said the summit would hear a report by Mandela and decide on the next course of action. The last such summit was held in Nairobi, Kenya last September. The summit had issued a 30-day ultimatum to rebel groups in Burundi to join the Arusha peace agreement signed by 19 parties on 28 August 2000. Internews further quoted Bomani as saying no definite breakthrough had come out of separate negotiations with some of the rebel groups in South Africa.