DATE=5/16/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=BURUNDI - PEACE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262445
BYLINE=JANICE BERLINER
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A prominent Mauritanian diplomat, Ambassador
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, says mediators will have a hard
time bringing an end to violence in Burundi. Mr. Ould
Abdallah - who is Executive Secretary of the Global
Coalition for Africa -- has just published a book,
"Burundi on the Brink, 1993-1995." We have details
from V-O-A's Janice Berliner in Washington.
TEXT: In Burundi, Hutu rebel groups have been fighting
the Tutsi-dominated army since 1993. An estimated
200-thousand people have been killed. The civil war
has displaced one-point-two million people and about
900-thousand of them are in camps within Burundi. The
others are living as refugees, mostly in Tanzania.
Mr. Ould-Abdallah - who was special representative of
the U-N Secretary General in Burundi during the period
covered by his book - says the situation there is not
clear-cut.
///FIRST OULD-ABDALLAH ACT ///
Unfortunately, the choice is not between a good
solution and a bad one, but it is between worse
and less bad and you have to see how to address
it.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Ould-Abdallah, speaking at a forum of the
Institute for Peace in Washington, said the factions
in Burundi are not primarily intent upon killing each
other.
/// SECOND OULD-ABDALLAH ACT ///
The ultimate motive is to humiliate, to make
people fear. For instance, people come to your
small village and they will kill your pet, dog
or goat or sheep. If you are preparing a meal
they will just put some mud in it and leave
you.
/// END ACT ///
Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who is
mediating talks aimed at ending the civil war in
Burundi, has proposed integrating Hutu rebels into the
Tutsi-dominated army, with a transition period leading
up to elections.
Burundi's Ambassador to the United States, Thomas
Ndikumana, told the Peace Institute forum the
government agrees, but has some reservations.
/// NDIKUMANA ACT ///
The government has no reservations about the
principle of integrating Hutus into the army.
The only reservation the government has is how
do we go to the 50-50, or 70-30 or 40-60,and the
government has reservation on the principle of
quota. If you go to 50 percent Hutu to 50-
percent Tutsi that is a wrong solution to the
problem of Burundi.
/// END ACT ///
Ambassador Ndikumana says the government is in favor
of reform to make the army more inclusive, but these
reforms are still a subject of negotiation.
The conflict between Burundi's ethnic majority Hutu
rebels and an army run by the minority Tutsi has been
escalating since a 1996 coup. Rebels say they will
resist the continued control of the Tutsi who have
dominated the army, government and commerce since
independence from Belgium in 1962.
Mr. Mandela is scheduled to meet with representatives
of the rebels and the army later this month in South
Africa. (Signed)
NEB/JB/TVM/gm
16-May-2000 19:03 PM EDT (16-May-2000 2303 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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