Government resumes military cooperation with Belgium

Belgian Minister of Defence André Flahaut and his Burundian counterpart, Vincent Niyungeko, signed a letter of intent on Tuesday to resume military cooperation, which was suspended in 1972. "We have the same partnership with DR [Democratic Republic of] Congo and Rwanda - Burundi had been left out," Flahaut said during the signing in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. He was on a one-day visit to the country. Flahaut told reporters that military cooperation, which he described as a partnership, would contribute to the restoration of peace and stability in the region. The two countries, he said, would set up a partnership programme "in the near future", to begin training Burundian army officers and cadets at the Belgium Royal Military Academy and the Royal Defence Institute in Belgium. Belgian instructors would also go to Burundi to train military trainers, he added. Belgium suspended military cooperation with Burundi following its ethnic massacres in 1972. The Burundian army, then dominated by a Tutsi minority, was accused of perpetrating the massacres. Military cooperation with Burundi resumes as its army undergoes drastic reform, with the formation of a new National Defence Force and National Police, which are open to members of former rebel movements. Both forces should formed be on a 50-50 ratio of Tutsis and majority Hutus, according to a Peace and Reconciliation Accord that Burundian parties signed on 28 August 2000 in Arusha, Tanzania. Burundi's transitional government was set up under this accord. However, the integration of former combatants into the new defence force has been difficult. Some soldiers from former armed movements have complained about the harmonisation of military ranks, especially for senior officers. Déo Nyabenda, the second vice-president of a former armed movement, the Palipe-Agakiza, has urged the head of state to enact a decree harmonising ranks between former government army officers and those from former armed groups. Burundi's transitional period, initially set at three years ending in October 2004, has been extended to April to facilitate the holding of general elections, which would usher in a democratic government and end more than a decade of civil strife.