Peace agreement "unlikely next week"

The anticipated signing of a Burundi peace agreement next week is "unlikely", Burundi's army spokesman Longin Minani told IRIN. "We don't think there will be a signing of the agreement next week," he said. "We haven't seen the document and the population hasn't agreed on certain issues," Minani observed. "There could only be a plenary session, but not the signing because all those negotiating have said they are not ready." Minani blamed a "lack of communication" between the negotiators and the facilitation team leading to the presumption that there an accord would be signed on 20 July, a day after the Arusha talks resume. The executive director of the Nyerere Foundation, Mark Bomani, told IRIN on Tuesday that the signing of the agreement would only take place if the document was ready and particularly, if "the negotiating groups agree so". "As it is, there are certain issues the groups have not agreed on yet, such as, who will lead the transition government and also who will implement the agreement," he explained. He said delegates were divided on the latter issue with some saying they did not want foreign organisations involved in monitoring the implementation of the accord while others advocated a mixture of foreigners and Burundians. "The date of the signing will be discussed in next week's meeting which starts on Monday," Bomani said. He also confirmed that East African heads of state - Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni - would meet in Arusha on Wednesday next week to discuss "crucial" issues of the peace process. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) last week quoted Burundi peace facilitator Nelson Mandela as saying he expected the peace accord to be signed on 20 July.