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Zuma holds talks on rebels with Museveni, Mkapa

    NAIROBI

    South Africa's Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, on Tuesday called for a regional summit to help jump-start the peace process in Burundi, AFP reported.

    According the paper, Zuma made the appeal on Tuesday at a meeting in Uganda's capital, Kampala, with the country's President Yoweri Museveni.

    "South Africa wants Museveni, as chairman of the regional peace initiative on Burundi, to carry out consultations with regional governments on the possibility of convening a summit to salvage the situation, which has made little progress and required a regional summit to draw its way forward," it quoted an official at the presidency as saying.

    The official said that Museveni and Zuma noted that, although the first half of Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya's interim presidency was almost coming to an end, fighting continued and some rebel groups had yet to be brought on board the peace process.

    From Kampala, Zuma travelled to Arusha, Tanzania, where he held talks with that country's President Benjamin Mkapa, the Arusha-based Internews reported on Thursday. He briefed Mkapa on the progress made in bringing armed rebel groups in Burundi to accept the Arusha peace accord signed by 19 political parties in August 2000.

    No official statement was released after the hour-long meeting, Internews said, adding that Zuma left for South Africa after the meeting.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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