Deadlock broken in Burundi peace efforts

(10 Jul 2001)

1. Various exterior Government Guest House
2. Various journalists waiting
3. Setup of press conference
4. Various of presser
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nelson Mandela
"There is nothing tentative. They firmly have decided that President Buyoya should lead the first 18 months and that the Vice President will be Mr Domitien Ndayizeye."
6. Cutaway
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nelson Mandela
"There is going to be a summit in Arusha on the 23rd of this month and we will be going there. And we are suggesting that two days before the summit the 19 political parties should meet and to try and see how to strengthen these conditions."
8. Cutaway
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Judge Mark Bumani, Mediator
"He (Buyoya) must carry out the reform of the army and the integration of the armed groups and the Hutus into the army of Burundi as expeditiously as possible."
10. Mandela getting up from desk
11. Mandela leaving room

STORYLINE:

Breaking a deadlock in Burundi peace efforts, the country's political parties agreed Tuesday to let President Pierre Buyoya lead the first half of a three-year transitional government.

The decision was made public after a 12-hour meeting with representatives from 19 Burundi parties, by former South African president and special mediator for the Burundi conflict, Nelson Mandela.

Disagreement over leadership during Burundi's planned transition to democracy had prevented implementation of a peace deal signed last year that called for an ethnic Tutsi to be president for the first 18 months of a government of national unity and a Hutu for the second half.

A majority of Burundi's political parties had rejected Buyoya as the Tutsi leader, but they could not agree on a replacement.

Hutu leader Domitien Ndayizeye would serve as deputy president during the first half of the transition.

The decision seeks to provide Burundi with continuity and stability before Buyoya hands over power to a Hutu president.

Buyoya agreed to a lengthy list of conditions to secure his appointment in the transitional government.

These included implementing the peace accord and including representatives of all the signatory parties in the transitional government.

He agreed to reform the army and to invite the international community to send peacekeepers to Burundi to strengthen security forces and provide protection for political leaders.

He also promised to protect all political leaders, especially those returning from exile, to cooperate on the return of refugees, and to release political prisoners.

At least 250-thousand people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Burundi since October 1993, when minority Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country's first democratically elected president, a Hutu, triggering a Hutu rebellion.

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