No going back on transitional leadership - Mandela

Burundi peace mediator Nelson Mandela, announcing that Burundian President Pierre Buyoya will lead the first 18 months of the country’s transition, has said the decision is “fixed”. Mandela, who made the announcement in Pretoria, South Africa on Tuesday, also said that the candidate of the G-7 Hutu parties, Domitien Ndayizeye, would serve as vice-president. The next 18 months of the three-year transition will be led by a Hutu president and a Tutsi vice-president.

“This is a fixed decision”, Mandela said, according to the South African news agency SAPA. “There is nothing tentative about this resolution...They [negotiating sides] have firmly decided that President Buyoya should lead the first 18 months and that the vice-president will be Domitien Ndayizeye.” He added there was no set timeframe for the introduction of the transitional government, but the parties involved would begin thrashing out the details at a regional summit in Arusha, Tanzania on 23 July. Buyoya has already agreed to a list of conditions attached to his appointment, Mandela said. [For further details and list of conditions see separate IRIN item of 11 July headlined “BURUNDI: Decision on transitional leadership “fixed”].