Threat to transition ebbs as interior minister is appointed

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye appointed on Tuesday Jean Marie Ngendahayo as the minister of interior, ending weeks of disagreement between the president and the former main rebel group, the CNDD-FDD. Ngendahayo is a member of the CNDD-FDD or Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie. His appointment follows talks last week in Pretoria, South Africa, between Ndayizeye and CNDD-FDD leader Pierre Nkurunziza, who is also the minister for good governance in Burundi's transitional government. "We now have common ground," Ndayizeye said in the capital, Bujumbura, upon his return from Pretoria. South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who is also the facilitator of the Burundi peace process, mediated the talks between Ndayizeye and Nkurunziza. Prior to Tuesday's appointment, Ndayizeye had asked the CNDD-FDD - now a political party - to propose three candidates for the ministerial position from whom he would pick one. However, CNDD-FDD proposed only one candidate, whom Ndayizeye declined to appoint. Then, the CNDD-FDD reacted by boycotting cabinet session and freezing relations with Ndayizeye. The Interior Ministry portfolio fell vacant following the death of the incumbent, Simon Nyandwi, on 22 March. Nyandwi was a CNDD-FDD member. The composition of the transitional government is based on a power-sharing arrangement stipulated by a Peace and Reconciliation Accord that Burundian parties signed in August 2000 in Arusha, Tanzania. The CNDD-FDD and the transitional government further signed a power-sharing agreement in November 2003 that saw members of the former rebel group joining the transition's institutions. The 2003 agreement provides for the appointment of the minister of interior from the CNDD-FDD. However, despite Tuesday's appointment, CNDD-FDD has said it would not immediately resume participation in cabinet meetings. CNDD-FDD spokesman Ramadhan Karenga told IRIN on Wednesday that the party's ministers might resume participation in cabinet meetings next week, but added that the party was waiting for Ndayizeye to make all other appointments he had promised. "The party has given names of army and senior police officers as well as other people and whom we expect to be appointed to different positions, including the intelligence services," Karenga said He said CNDD-FDD expected the appointments by the end of this week as Ndayizeye had requested a week to complete the appointments The absence of a minister of interior had raised concerns in country, which is preparing for a series of elections designed to bring democratic rule to Burundi after 11 years of civil war. At least 300,000 Burundians have died in this war and hundreds of thousands others displaced. The polls are due to start with communal elections on 3 June, parliamentary polls on 4 July and presidential elections on 19 August.