Buyoya proposes two-phase transition

Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya on Sunday said the country could solve the transition problem in two phases if the signatories of the of the peace agreement so desired, Burundi radio quoted him as telling journalists in Bujumbura. President Buyoya had just returned from Pretoria, South Africa where he held talks with the mediator of the Burundi peace process, Nelson Mandela and the country's President Thabo Mbeki. According to Buyoya, the country was still negotiating how the transitional institutions would work. "When one considers the realities that our country is experiencing, the transitional institutions in the framework of the peace agreement cannot be put in place," Buyoya said. "How exactly does the peace agreement provide for these institutions given that the ending of the war is impossible, because it is not possible for all the 19 signatory parties of the agreement to lend their support to a transitional government and parliament?". His two-phase transition comprised a "pre-transition with all the signatories who are currently there and those who can enter the institutions". The second phase would be a transition which included "everyone". This, he said, would resemble the provisions of the Arusha agreement because the conditions would have been fulfilled. "I must say that what I have just said is what I think. It is not what we discussed with Mandela," he clarified. "But President Mandela's opinion was along the lines of: This issue is your issue, sit down and resolve it, and if you bring to me a solution that all Burundians want, I will accept it." On the ceasefire issue, Buyoya said he wanted to impress upon the mediator the gravity of the violence currently prevailing in his country. "There is an increase in violent clashes in Burundi and I described in detail what is going on to the mediator. I told him, from my point of view, if things continue like this in the coming weeks and months, we are not going to be able to talk about the implementation of the peace accord. We will be talking about war," he added. Buyoya also claimed the two main armed rebels group Forces de defense pour la democratie (FDD) and Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) had agreed to participate in the Burundi peace talks. He told journalists in Nairobi during a stopover at the weekend that they "have agreed to negotiate", the 'Daily Nation' newspaper reported. Buyoya added that his talks with Mandela were "very positive".