Zuma off to Bujumbura next week to "salvage" talks

South Africa's Deputy President Jacob Zuma will arrive in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, on Monday next week, in what analysts describe as an attempt to "salvage" a post-poll power-sharing agreement reached between two of Burundi's three political parties. UPRONA, the main Tutsi-dominated party, rejected proposals contained in a draft document on power-sharing at talks in South Africa this week, saying it did not accommodate their interests, an analyst with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Henry Boshoff, told IRIN. South African foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said, "Despite UPRONA's rejection, the agreement remains in place." Zanele Mngadi, a spokesperson for Zuma's office, maintained that Zuma was going to Burundi to "brief all the stakeholders and other parties about the new power-sharing agreement". The draft power-sharing document reiterates most of the details contained in the South African-brokered Peace and Reconciliation Accord, signed in August 2000 in Arusha, Tanzania. The agreement says the government would be 60 percent Hutu and 40 percent Tutsi; parliament would have the same ratio; and the Senate and the army would be 50 percent Hutu and 50 percent Tutsi. According to delegates and analysts at the talks in Pretoria this week, UPRONA wants 70 percent of the 40 percent government share allocated to the Tutsis. "The South African government has been trying to impress on UPRONA that it cannot seek such guarantees before an election," a delegate told IRIN. An ISS analyst, who chose to remain anonymous, said: "While it is understandable as to why UPRONA wants guarantees for the minority Tutsis, in this case it should try to be more accommodating to facilitate the [peace] process. In this atmosphere of distrust nothing can be finalised - the draft constitution or the elections."