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UN Security Council Approves Transitional Government - UN Security Council UN Security Council
Approves Transitional Governmentby Sukhdev Chhatbar
Internews
October 30, 2001The United Nations Security Council yesterday approved a resolution to support the Burundi transitional government scheduled for installation in Bujumbura on Thursday, 1 November.
According to press reports from the United Nations in New York, the Security Council, however, expressed concern over the continued violence in Burundi, and added that the peace accord signed on 28 August 2000 in Arusha, Tanzania "remains the most viable basis for the resolution of the conflict."
After Thursday's installation, current Burundian President Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, will serve as interim president in the first 18 months of the three-year transitional period brokered by Mandela. Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu, will serve as vice- president. A Hutu president and a Tutsi vice-president, yet to be determined, will lead the second 18-month phase.
The transition period was proposed by Mandela and supported by 17 Burundian political parties, the government and the National Assembly.
However, two pro-Hutu rebel groups, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) and the National Liberation Forces (FNL), have refused to take part in the peace process.
They continue to stage sporadic attacks against government forces in Burundi.
The UN Security Council also endorsed South Africa's deployment of troops for the Special Protective Unit (SPU) in Burundi, to protect politicians returning from exile. Two hundred and forty South African SPU troops arrived in Burundi on Sunday. Four hundred and fifty-nine more South African soldiers are expected in Bujumbura between today and Thursday. The South African contingent is likely to be joined by troops from Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal. Jeremy Greenstock, British Ambassador to the UN, said after yesterday's vote that his government would consider financial support for the security forces in Burundi.
Belgium has already pledged $5 million for the forces and the European Union is expected to contribute $17 million.
The Japanese government has pledged $50 million for a meeting between Burundi's peace signatories and stakeholders, according to Mark Bomani of Tanzania, Mandela's aide. "We don't know yet when and where the meeting will be held," Bomani said yesterday before leaving for Johannesburg, South Africa, where he will team up with Mandela and travel to Bujumbura.
The heads of state from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal are scheduled to attend Thursday's installation.
The civil war in Burundi began in 1993 following the killing of the country's first democratically elected President, Melchior Ndadaye. It is alleged that Tutsi paratroopers killed Ndadaye, who was Hutu. More than 250,000 people have died in the civil strife.
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