Buyoya regret at Kabila’s tragic death

Burundi President Major Pierre Buyoya on Saturday expressed regret at the assassination of former DRC President Kabila, saying the death of any head of state was “a tragedy”. He expressed the hope that the people of the DRC and of the region would do everything to transform the event into a means to achieve reconciliation, dialogue and peace. Buyoya and Kabilas’ efforts to bring into the Burundi peace process rebel groups that had been attacking the country from inside the DRC would continue, the Burundi president said. “We shall pursue the initiative with the future Congolese government. We shall wait to see who will become our interlocutor,” Buyoya said on Radio Burundi.

French President Jacques Chirac on Friday met Buyoya on the fringes of the Franco-African Summit in Cameroon. Chirac emphasised how important it was “to continue negotiations with all parties, in particular those who took part in Libreville under the aegis of Gabonese President Omar Bongo,” AFP reported. Buyoya met Kabila and Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, leader of the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD), in Libreville on 9 January. A French-sponsored peace agreement between the DRC and Burundi was due to be signed in Cameroon but for Kabila’s assassination, AFP quoted a diplomatic source as saying.