DATE=8/27/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON / BURUNDI (L-O)
NUMBER=2-265888
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=ARUSHA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton is to arrive in east Africa
Monday to witness the signing of a peace deal intended
to end ethnic violence in Burundi. V-O-A's Scott
Stearns reports negotiators are rushing to finish the
agreement in the Tanzanian town of Arusha.
TEXT: There will be something to sign Monday.
President Clinton and at least a dozen African heads
of state are due in Arusha to witness the conclusion
of a political deal mediated by former South African
President Nelson Mandela.
What is still unclear is how that deal will help end
violence in Burundi, where rebels from the Hutu
majority are battling the government army that is
dominated by the ethnic-minority Tutsi. The deal will
not include a cease-fire, because there are no rebels
at these talks to give a cease-fire credibility.
It also appears there will be no decision about who
leads a transitional government for Burundi. There
are several candidates, but no consensus.
Current military President Pierre Buyoya is still
vying for the job, despite objections from Hutu. They
hold him responsible for the 1993 assassination of
Burundi's first democratically elected president, a
Hutu.
Negotiators say the best they can hope for is to
postpone a decision on those issues and come up with a
political arrangement that guarantees power sharing in
a transitional government.
/// OPT ///
Tutsi want as many as 40-percent of the seats in a new
National Assembly. Tutsi account for less than 15-
percent of the population, but have controlled the
country's government, army, and commerce since
independence.
President Buyoya is under pressure from hardline Tutsi
who fear any deal with Hutu will lead to revenge
attacks against years of Tutsi domination.
Hutu are willing to give Tutsi 33-percent of the seats
in a new assembly, which would still be a blocking
minority. With a planned new Senate divided 50-50,
negotiators believe they can reach a deal on the
assembly in time for Monday's signing.
There also appears to be agreement on dividing the
army 50-50 between Hutu and Tutsi, although rebels may
object because there are already some Hutu in the
army. So that means the Hutu half of the new military
will not consist entirely of demobilized rebels.
Negotiators say they have reached broad agreement on a
truth commission to investigate past violence. That
inquiry will be modeled along South Africa's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, which could grant amnesties
if the crimes committed were considered political in
nature.
/// END OPT ///
Even if Mr. Mandela's plan does not include a cease-
fire regional diplomats say a political agreement for
Burundi would still be an important step forward.
It might even make a cease-fire easier by closing the
Arusha talks, where 19 parties have made progress
difficult, and moving the process to Burundi's
capital, Bujumbura, for more substantive talks of
cease-fire between rebels and the army.
That is part of a three to six-month pre-transitional
process under the Mandela plan. During that time some
government soldiers would be demobilized and the
United Nations would pledge to send in peace-keepers
after a final deal is reached.
Members of the current military government do not want
a transitional administration to take over until there
is a cease-fire. They do not want Hutu political
supporters in a transitional government negotiating a
cease-fire with Hutu rebels.
Mr. Mandela has had separate talks with Burundi's
rebels. It is hoped he can strike a political deal in
Arusha and move quickly to the security arrangements
in a cease-fire. Unless the violence stops, it will
not matter how many seats anyone has in a new National
Assembly. (SIGNED)
NEB/SS/ALW/RAE
27-Aug-2000 09:47 AM EDT (27-Aug-2000 1347 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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