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Final summit held before installment of transitional government

    NAIROBI

    A Five-nation summit of African leaders began on Monday in Arusha, Tanzania, to review progress in the establishment of institutions for a transitional government due to begin running war-torn Burundi on 1 November, diplomatic sources told IRIN.

    This meeting, a follow-up to a similar regional summit in July, is examining the setting up of a special protection force for the new three-year government that will be headed by the incumbent, President Paul Buyoya, during the first 18 months.

    Delegates, who include the chief mediator in the Burundi crisis, Nelson Mandela, and South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, are also discussing the legal framework for the adoption of the law on temporary immunity for politically motivated crimes. The provision, contained in the Arusha peace agreement signed by 19 Burundian parties on 28 August 2000, "is designed to encourage the return of political exiles to take part in the transitional government", one diplomat said.

    The Arusha-based news agency, Internews, reported that delegates are also discussing efforts to convince the Hutu anti-government groups - the Forces for the Defense of Democracy and the National Liberation Forces - to accept a cease-fire. They are not party to the Arusha deal. Zuma and President Omar Bongo of Gabon are separately negotiating with these groups to persuade them to stop fighting, Internews reported.

    Diplomatic sources said the presidents of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania had attended the summits. Some of the other invited leaders sent officials. Internews reported that the other presidents invited included those of Gabon, Ghana, the Congo (Democratic Republic), Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia.

    The summit is expected to be the last before Buyoya, a Tutsi, is installed as the first leader in the transitional government. His vice-president, Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu, will take over as president in the second 18-month transitional period. He is the secretary-general of the largest Hutu party in Burundi, the Front for Democracy, FRODEBU.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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