Africa to 'end Burundi war'
2003-07-16 19:06
Kigali - African states will strive to halt Burundi's 10-year civil war, South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the principal mediator in a peace process for the central African state, said here on Wednesday.
"As a region, we are ready to do everything to ensure that the agreements to take peace forward are implemented ... we have to find a way to stop the current violence that is taking place in Burundi," Zuma told reporters after meeting Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Zuma is on a tour of Africa's Great Lakes region for consultations with leaders ahead of a regional summit on Burundi planned for Sunday in Dar es Salaan, Tanzania.
Zuma declined to say whether a regional peacekeeping force for Burundi was being considered.
"There is an African mission that is there to guarantee the peace process and implementation of this," he said.
"With regard to the current developments, the region has to decide ... to discuss whether you need anything new or you don't," said Zuma.
He was referring to an assault launched on Bujumbura on July 7 by rebels of the National Liberation Forces (FNL), who have refused to participate in the peace process.
Ugandan President said after a meeting with Zuma on on Tuesday that regional leaders will, during the summit in Dar es Salaam, consider beefing up the mandate of the African force already in Burundi.
Ten years of civil war pitting rebel movements of the ethnic Hutu majority in Burundi against an army dominated by members of the Tutsi minority has claimed the lives of an estimated 300 000 people.