Mandela calls regional summit in Arusha

The facilitator of the Burundi peace process, Nelson Mandela, has arranged for a regional summit in Arusha on 26 and 27 February, to be attended by several heads of state, including DRC President Joseph Kabila, the independent Hirondelle news agency reported on Wednesday. Mandela’s office said the upcoming talks would focus, in particular, on two outstanding matters: securing a military ceasefire and the issue of who will lead a transition government, the report said. Mandela’s spokeswoman Zelda la Grange said both issues must be resolved to provide a breakthrough in the process.

The facilitator’s office said Kabila had accepted an invitation to attend the summit on the first day, Hirondelle reported. The Burundi rebel CNDD-FDD movement has been fighting on the Kinshasa government side in the DRC conflict. Nineteen Burundi parties signed a peace agreement in Arusha on 28 August 2000 but neither the CNDD-FDD nor another rebel group PALIPEHUTU-FNL were part of the peace process. Neither have they since ended their military campaigns or signed up to the agreement.

Mandela is due to fly to the DRC capital Kinshasa on Tuesday 13 February to brief President Joseph Kabila on the achievements of the peace process, the South African news agency (SAPA) reported on Wednesday.

On 9 January, days before his assassination, the late DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila co-hosted with Gabonese President Omar Bongo a first face-to-face meeting of Burundi President Pierre Buyoya and Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, leader of the rebel CNDD-FDD.