Internews (Arusha)
Sukhdev Chhatbar
14 November 2001
Arusha — Pro-Hutu rebel groups in Burundi can no longer justify their armed rebellion following the installation of a transitional government on 1 November, Nelson Mandela, negotiator of the Burundi peace talks said yesterday. Mandela wants the rebel groups to negotiate with the transitional government.
Press reports in the United States quoted Mandela saying that the rebel groups must "come to the negotiating table as they now have no justification for their armed rebellion following the installation of a power-sharing transitional government on 1 November in Bujumbura."
Mandela, former South African President, made the remarks in Washington when he addressed the press after a meeting with US President George Bush. Mandela informed Bush on efforts he has made to end civil war in Burundi.
The rebel groups, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) and the National Liberation Forces (FNL), have rejected a peace accord signed last year by 19 Burundian parties in Arusha, Tanzania.
Mandela said the ethnic Tutsi, who form 16 percent of Burundi's population, have been running the country but this is no longer the case under the new power-sharing arrangement. "The main Hutu party [FRODEBU], supported by 65 percent of the population, is included in the power-sharing arrangement," Mandela stressed.
"Internal pressure for peace will force the rebels to the table," the American press quoted Mandela.
Under a three-year transitional period brokered by Mandela, current Burundi President Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, will serve as interim president for the first 18 months. Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu, will serve as vice-president. Ndayizeye is the Secretary- General of the Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU), the largest pro-Hutu party in Burundi.
A Hutu president and a Tutsi vice president, yet to be determined, will lead the second 18-month phase.
The transitional government in Burundi comes after five years of peace negotiations. The late Julius Nyerere, former Tanzania president, was the first mediator of the Burundi peace talks.
Mandela took over following Nyerere's death in 1999.
"Credit for any breakthrough that has been made goes to Nyerere. He did a remarkable job of bringing together leaders, making my task easier" said Mandela, 83.
Buyoya has named 26 cabinet ministers for the first phase of the transitional period.
More than 250,000 people have died in the eight-year civil war in Burundi.
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