Buyoya talks tough on ceasefire

President Buyoya said on Monday it was "not appropriate" to implement the general terms of the Arusha peace accord on Burundi, and particularly to put in place transitional institutions of state, while violence was persisted. "I wish to strongly state here that, given the current situation developing on the ground, the government will call on the peace accord signatories, the mediator [Nelson Mandela], the regional leaders and the international community [to accept] that the establishment of the transitional institutions should be effective when there is a ceasefire," the Burundi news agency ABP quoted Buyoya as saying.

The president said people were fighting for the transitional leadership because a peace accord had been reached in fulfilment of people's aspirations. Buyoya said he would endeavour to ensure that the issue of transitional leadership was solved by 18 March. He said that, taking into account the role he played in achieving what society wanted, he was confident that Burundians would "trust him".

He said he was sure that the heads of state, the mediator and Burundians would be able to see which method was likely to lead to peace. Buyoya said that he felt encouraged by the most recent Arusha summit on Burundi which rejected the candidates of the pro-Hutu 'G7' parties [since reduced to the 'G6' with the departure of the CNDD-FDD] and the 'G6' pro-Tutsi parties because they were not capable of restoring peace.