SA mediators to go to Burundi

2008-10-15 11:49

Pretoria - South African mediators will return to Burundi at the weekend in a bid to ensure the central African state's fragile peace process does not collapse, the defence minister said on Tuesday.

"For as long as there is a delay in the implementation of the various agreements of the peace process, there is always hanging in the air a possibility of a return to armed combat. We are trying to prevent that from happening," Charles Nqakula said.

"We are going to go to Bujumbura once more to try find the pieces that continue to be missing, for us to put them place so that we can complete our project."

South Africa was mandated by the region to finalise the peace process by December and faces increasing pressure to meet its deadline, Nqakula said.

The major stumbling blocks were political matters, he said.

Long-term facilitator for Burundi, Nqakula was reappointed last week. A team from Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa is based inside the country to monitor the process.

The South African team headed by Nqakula leaves Sunday to start engaging on Monday, hoping to report to regional leaders next week.

"Leaders from both parties have a responsibility to pull their country out of the morass of conflict and war," Nqakula said.

Burundi is struggling to emerge from the ashes of a civil war which erupted in 1993 and killed at least 300 000 people.

The last active rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), has signed a peace deal with the government but its implementation has been fraught with obstacles over how to share political and military power.

- AFP