Burundi peace talks adjourned fruitless www.chinaview.cn 2003-09-17 02:05
DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Burundi peace talks were adjourned on Tuesday here without any result despite of five African heads of state spending a sleepless night to negotiate with the Burundi transitional authority and anti-government military group National Council for Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD).
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Mozambican President JoaquimChissano, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Burundi President Domitien Ndayizeye and the host Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapastarted their consultations from Monday afternoon until at dawn onTuesday.
Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Jakaya Kikwete said one of the issues was CNDD-FDD's demand to have a share of the top posts in the transitional government.
"Some of the CNDD-FDD demands are that it should be given postsof the parliamentary speaker, minister of internal security, provincial governors and a share in the national army," Kikwete said.
Kikwete said the next summit will be called after consultationsbetween the chairman of the regional initiative, Ugandan PresidentMuseveni and South African President Mbeki.
Kikwete said the CNDD-FDD cannot be ignored because it was a group which commanded large influence within Burundi.
He stressed that although the presidents' meeting took long, there has been some headway, although there were still outstandingissues which were yet to be dealt with.
The Burundi peace talks are part of regional efforts to implement the 2000 Arusha Accord that seeks to end the ethnic hatred between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis.
Over 200,000 people have died in Burundi ethnic clashes since 1993 when the first democratically elected president, Merkior Ndadaye, was killed. Enditem
