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UN's Burundi office to stay
20/12/2007 12:56 - (SA)
New York - The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to keep a UN office in Burundi for another year and called for an early conclusion of peace talks between the government and the country's last rebel group.
Burundi is trying to emerge from a 13-year civil war that claimed nearly 300 000 lives, most of them civilian. The conflict began when Tutsi paratroopers killed the first democratically elected president in 1993, a Hutu, after he had served only three months in office.
All of the tiny central African nation's rebel groups, whose fighters are mostly drawn from the majority Hutus, have signed and implemented peace deals except the National Liberation Force.
The rebel group and the Burundian government signed a ceasefire deal in September 2006, but efforts to implement it have so far failed. The two parties disagree on key issues such as the liberation of prisoners and the political future of rebel officials within the government.
A year ago, the United Nations wrapped up its peacekeeping mission in Burundi and replaced it with a UN office to help the African nation promote development and democratic government.
The resolution adopted unanimously by the council on Wednesday extends the UN office until December 31 2008 and urges the National Liberation Force and the government to agree "on a roadmap of sequenced steps and clear time frames" to implement the ceasefire agreement and conclude the final phase of the peace process.
It commended "the authorities and political actors in Burundi for persevering in their dialogue on achieving stability and national reconciliation and to promote social harmony in their country, and encourages them to continue that dialogue".
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