IMC chairman briefs Mandela on progress

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, Berhanu Dinka, and the Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Burundi, Jean Arnault, on Tuesday met the Facilitator of the Burundi peace process, former South African President Nelson Mandela, in Johannesburg. The parties exchanged views on the various aspects of the peace process and discussed the progress and constraints in the implementation of the Arusha Agreement signed in August 2000, according to a statement on Thursday from Ambassador Dinka’s office.

Dinka, who is chairman of the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) of the Arusha Agreement, briefed Mandela on the activities and achievements of the IMC thus far, remarking that there had been “a marked improvement in the level of cooperation and mutual respect among the Burundian IMC members since the Committee began meeting in January 2001.” This positive spirit was helping the IMC to advance implementation of a number of important provisions of the Arusha Agreement, the statement said.

The IMC has recently agreed on the urgent establishment of an independent commission to investigate the question of political prisoners and prison conditions in Burundi. It also decided that the current interim government of Burundi and the National Assembly would repeal provisions of a number of laws hindering free political activity in the country, and that they should consider drafting an urgent law to grant temporary immunity from prosecution for politically-motivated crimes. The Committee has also been considering the conditions required for the installation of a transitional government, the timing and pre-conditions for requesting the assistance of an international peacekeeping force, and preparatory work being undertaken by the UN system in Burundi for the future voluntary repatriation of refugees and reintegration of internally-displaced people.