DATE=9/4/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=MANDELA BURUNDI
NUMBER=5-46963
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Former South African President Nelson Mandela
is following up last week's political accord on
Burundi with talks on a cease-fire. He has invited
Burundi's army and its main rebel groups to meet in
the Kenyan capital later this month. Correspondent
Scott Stearns reports on the challenges ahead.
TEXT: Burundi's political accord means nothing
without a cease-fire. The deal witnessed last week by
President Clinton includes plans for a transitional
government and a new national assembly, but none of
that will happen until the fighting stops.
Ethnic-majority Hutu rebels are battling a government
army dominated by the minority Tutsi. Seven-years of
ethnic violence in Burundi have claimed more than 200-
thousand lives.
Tutsi politicians who refused to sign Mr. Mandela's
plan did so largely because it made political
concessions to Hutu without getting a cease-fire in
return. Tutsi leaders who signed the deal say
minority rights are protected because the plan does
not come into force until there is a cease-fire.
Tutsi who went along with Mr. Mandela are under
pressure from hard-liners, who fear any Hutu in power
will take revenge for years of Tutsi domination.
Burundi's president, Pierre Buyoya, is one of those
under pressure. He signed the deal despite threats
that the army might move against him. He is defending
the accord as a first step that still leaves many
issues to be clarified - the most important being a
cease-fire.
President Buyoya says regional leaders have promised
to get the rebels to the negotiating table, where he
says he is ready to talk.
Mr. Mandela has already had individual meetings with
Burundi's two main rebel groups, and has invited both
to attend the talks in Nairobi later this month. That
is a significant development in a process where the
military government long insisted there could be no
direct talks with rebels without a cease-fire.
Foreign diplomats credit Mr. Mandela with the change.
The former South African president is a firm believer
that political concessions must come before a cease-
fire. At the signing ceremony in Tanzania last week,
Mr. Mandela criticized the Tutsi parties opposed to
the plan, saying their obstinate position gives fuel
to Hutu hard-liners preaching violence as the only
solution.
/// FIRST MANDELA ACT ///
I think the armed groups here are justified in
refusing to declare a cease-fire before the
process is irreversible, and those groups that
do not want to sign are playing into the hands
of the rebels.
/// END ACT ///
Given Mr. Mandela's considerable moral authority, he
paid Burundi's rebellion perhaps the highest
compliment by comparing it with his own fight against
minority rule in South Africa.
/// SECOND MANDELA ACT ///
When the president of that day said to us, "I
want you, before I can talk to you, I want you
to disband your army and to hand in your
weapons," we said: "Over our dead bodies. We
will never do that. This is our trump card.
This is our weapon to force changes in this
country." And he had to capitulate.
/// END ACT ///
Neither of the main rebel groups were part of the
talks that drafted the political accord, so it is not
clear what mediators can offer them in exchange for a
cease-fire. There is a 50-50 ethnic split in a new
army, but that is a long way off.
While they are enticing the rebels, Mr. Mandela's team
must also consider the security concerns of the Tutsi
minority. President Buyoya took a risk in signing the
political deal. If it all works out with a cease-fire
and U-N troops, he could end up leading Burundi's
transitional government.
But if the plan fails and there is no cease-fire,
President Buyoya will have little defense against
Tutsi militia who believe their interests are best
protected through violence. (SIGNED)
NEB/SS/WTW/RAE
04-Sep-2000 09:46 AM EDT (04-Sep-2000 1346 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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