Mandela criticises Buyoya

Nelson Mandela, the facilitator of the Burundi peace talks, has sharply criticised President Pierre Buyoya for jailing opponents and keeping people in regroupment camps. “That is a situation that is totally unacceptable to a person such as me who has spent 27 years in jail,” Mandela said on Tuesday during the negotiations in Arusha, Tanzania. However, according to the Arusha-based Internews service, he expressed confidence that Buyoya would have the “courage and strength of character to bite the bullet and to create conditions so that all of us can feel that we are indeed on the verge of a breakthrough”.

Buyoya replied there was no problem in dismantling the regroupment camps, but the security situation must first return to normal. He told a news conference both he and his government were “an important ally” in completing the peace process. “Everyone has recognised that at this stage of the peace process, the government has a responsibility which other parties do not have,” Buyoya said. On the issue of prisoners, it was necessary to determine who was a political detainee and who was a criminal, he added.