Buyoya nominates commission members

Burundi’s President Pierre Buyoya on 11 May signed a decree nominating members of a commission charged with drafting the texts of laws provided for in the Arusha accord, the Burundian news agency Net Press reported on Tuesday. The 10-member committee, whose president is Eugene Nindorera and vice-president Elyse Ndaye, will draft within three months “texts highly sensitive to the public and which will definitely create controversies”, Net Press noted. “The commission is to draft five texts on constitutional arrangements relating to the transition, the law on political parties, the law organising the National Assembly, the law on provisional immunity for politically motivated criminals and the law on the pursuit of perpetrators of genocide and different crimes against humanity committed in Burundi,” the agency said. “These texts, provided for in the Arusha accord, have seen a long delay in their implementation,” it added.

According to Net Press, ethnic groups are equally represented on the commission, “although it does not comprise members of the Tutsi opposition”. The other members of the commission are: Stanislas Makoroka, Venerand Nzohabonayo, Venerande Kiyogoma, Ernest Ndikumukama, Fabien Segatwa, Fidele Ntirushwa and Gerard Ndayisenga.