CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA: IRIN Weekly Round-up 44
BURUNDI: Ogata says Burundi has a choice to make
The nation of Burundi was "at a crossroads", with a choice between peace
and an intensified conflict situation that would certainly cause massive
displacement, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata told a UN
General Assembly debate on world refugee movements on Monday. In her last
address as High Commissioner, Ogata said former South African President
Nelson Mandela had given new momentum to the Arusha peace process, but the
continued fighting in the country was "deeply discouraging". She said the
situation in Burundi concerned her enormously, and that she would pass
those concerns on to her successor at UNHCR (Ruud Lubbers, former
Netherlands prime minister). As the peace accord neared implementation,
Ogata hoped that the various opposition movements "would accept the
inevitability of peace and move forward", she said. When peace did come,
UNHCR was prepared to help more than half a million refugees return home
from Tanzania.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
