29 September 2007
Bujumbura — The President of the Republic, Mr. Pierre Nkurunziza, placated the population in a speech to the nation on this Thursday 27 September 2007.
In his speech, he said that he had met with leaders of opposition political parties in order to find a way out of the current impasse and he reported that the results of these talks were satisfying.
Both sides have agreed that democracy must prevail, communal administrators who were unjustly dismissed by communal councils must be reinstated, talks with PALIPEHUTU-FNL must continue and defence and security bodies must not be involved in politics.
The leader of Frodebu, Léonce Ngendakumana, said that he is pleased with the president's speech which included what all parties agreed upon in principles. He indicates, however, that the implementation of this agreement must follow if real progress is to be made.
Today the Head of State met with governors of several provinces. The aim of the meeting was to make it clear that political parties are allowed to hold meetings.
The head of state is struggling to resolve an institutional crisis that emerged in the national assembly more than seven months ago and which was galvanized by a campaign against opposition members of the parliament that the head of state himself launched more than a month ago.
The hesitancy of donors to disburse promised funds as well as pressure exerted by the international community convinced the head of state to start talks with prominent opposition political parties.
The implementation of this agreement will result in changes in the ministerial cabinet as well as in the other facets of the executive branch. The remaining issue is that some of the parties that participated in these talks, including CNDD-FDD and Uprona, are not unified.
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