Speed up peace process, Security Council urges

Members of the UN Security Council visiting Africa's Great Lakes region asked the government of Burundi on Tuesday to speed up the country's peace process and complete the political transitional period by 2005. "It is imperative to conclude the process as there is no alternative to the 2005 elections," Jean Marc de la Sablière, the French ambassador to the UN and head of the 15-member delegation, told reporters on arrival at Bujumbura airport. He said the Council's visit comes at a crucial time in the country's political life, whereby peace has been restored in 95 percent of the country after more than a decade of civil war. A referendum on the country's post-transition constitution is due to be held on 22 December and elections in 2005. However, he said there were issues that remained to be tackled before the elections: the adoption of the electoral code; the holding of the referendum; the formation of new defence forces; and the demobilisation of former combatants. During the visit, the UN delegation is due to hold talks with senior government officials, representatives of the civic society, members of the Implementation and Monitoring Committee of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Accord of August 2000, and officials of the National Independent Electoral Commission. A member of the committee and its spokesman for the occasion, Jerome Ndiho, told IRIN that at a meeting with the UN delegation on Wednesday, the committee expressed concern over the government's delay in the registration of former rebel groups as political parties. He said the committee was calling on the government to register the former rebel groups during the first week of December. The committee also urged the UN delegation to plead for the disbursement of funds for the electoral process. The UN delegation also held a meeting on Wednesday with the minister for good governance, Pierre Nkurunziza, who is also the head of the former largest rebel movement in the country, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie–Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD). Speaking after the meeting, Nkurunziza said he briefed the UN ambassadors on the implementation of a ceasefire and power-sharing accord signed in November 2003 between the government and the CNDD-FDD. He said although progress had been made in the implementation of the accord, there had been a delay in the release of political prisoners and the appointment of CNDD-FDD members into managerial positions in public companies. Nkurunziza said he also briefed the delegation on disarmament of ex-combatants, dismissing allegations that elections could not be held as long as weapons were still circulating in the country. "Disarmament should not be taken as a pretext to delay the elections. As long as the demobilisation starts, combatants will hand in their weapons," he said. However, he said he was concerned over weapons that the government allegedly distributed to civilians. "The government should start disarming civilians now as it well knows who has them," he said.