Sides meeting in Arusha

The office of peace mediator Nelson Mandela confirmed that Monday’s regional summit would go ahead in Arusha, despite the G-6 boycott. Meanwhile, according to the Internews press service, 17 of the 19 signatories to the Arusha peace accord began talks in Arusha on Friday ahead of the summit. It said the radical Tutsi PARENA party and the pro-Tutsi PIT party stayed away. The sides are discussing the compilation of a final set of conditions for the transitional government and the distribution of ministerial posts. Internews quoted Mark Bomani, an aide to Mandela, as saying that the transitional president would “publicly accept” the conditions. These will entail an amended list of conditions proposed by Mandela when he announced Buyoya’s appointment as first transitional leader in Pretoria last week. The final proposals, Bomani said, will be submitted to a plenary session for endorsement and eventual presentation to Monday’s meeting of regional leaders. South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who is assisting Mandela in the peace process, returned home on Wednesday from a tour of the Great Lakes region where he briefed leaders on developments in the peace process, the South African news agency, SAPA, reported. “These leaders have expressed a keenness to support efforts aimed at bringing peace ... and a desire to see full implementation of the peace process,” he was quoted as saying.