Burundi 'needs massive aid'

2006-03-23 13:00

New York - The United Nations peacekeeping force in Burundi has helped put the central African nation on the road to peace after a 12-year civil war and should be replaced by a massive international aid programme to reduce rampant poverty and promote development, said the head of the UN mission.

Carolyn McAskie said the annual $300m cost of the force - which was being reduced and would be gone by the end of the year - should be spent to build Burundi's economy, health services and education.

She said: "My challenge to the international community is, you've done the peacekeeping job, now do the peacebuilding job. That's the ultimate challenge, because if Burundi works, then it can have a positive spinoff in the region."

Council expected to discuss Burundi

McAskie, who was stepping down as head of the UN mission at the end of the month, said the security council authorised a 5 650-strong force in May 2004 at a time when Burundi's transition from war "was beginning to look a little bit shaky."

The council was expected to discuss Burundi on Thursday.

More than 250 000 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the war that erupted in 1993 after paratroopers from the Tutsi ethnic minority assassinated Burundi's first democratically elected president from the Hutu ethnic majority.

A series of peace deals led to democratic elections last year and the formation of a power-sharing government between members of the two communities.

UN force helped Burundians

She said: "Our assessment is that Burundi is by and large a success story, that the UN arrived at a critical point in the peace process when the Burundians had learned over a series of painful years to talk to each other."

McAskie said the UN force helped Burundians find legitimate ways to prolong the transition to complete a constitution, elections and disarmament, and to put in place a national defense force.

She said: "Burundi was able to achieve that more quickly and more effectively because of our presence and our input."

But, McAskie said the last group of rebels holding out from a series of deals that ended the civil war, the National Liberation Force, or FNL, posed a security threat.

FNL 'promising'

Earlier this month, the Hutu group, in a deal brokered by Tanzania, offered to negotiate with the government with no preconditions. She said: "The government is considering this request."

Asked whether the government was likely to accept, McAskie said: "My sense is they will eventually."

She expressed hope that the FNL could be brought into the peace process in the next three months, saying a negotiated solution was the only way to end the insurgency.

She said: "If it doesn't then we're going to have to find a way to continue to encourage the parties to come to the table."

- AP