Burundi: New peace structure to bolster stability

BUJUMBURA, 29 May 2009 (IRIN) - With the integration of Burundi's last rebel groups into government institutions almost complete, the team that mediated the peace process has set up a structure to monitor the implementation of the pact signed in 2006, officials said.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who chairs the Regional Initiative for Burundi, initiated the Partnership for Peace in Burundi (PPB), to monitor the consolidation of peace in the country until December 2009.

The partnership is mandated to promote sustainable peace in the country and "contribute to an enabling environment for the period leading up to the elections" scheduled in 2010, according to Dumisani Kumalo, a member of the South Africa-led mediation team that brokered the agreement between the Burundian government and the last rebel group, the Forces nationales de libération (FNL).

"The major task of the PPB in this new phase is to monitor the consolidation of the peace process between now and the end of the year," Kumalo said at a news conference in Bujumbura on 27 May.

Kumalo said the PPB would comprise representatives of the Political Directorate - which has been guiding the peace process; the UN Mission in Burundi (BINUB); as well as the International Conference for the Great Lakes region, an initiative of the UN and African Union.

BINUB, he said, would provide the secretariat as well as the logistical support to the PPB while the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region will "regularly brief the leaders of the Regional Initiative to ensure that they remain updated on the peace process".

South African politician Charles Nqakula, chairman of the Burundi peace mediation team, said he hoped the PPB would succeed as "there is a lot of optimism and confidence - for the first time in Burundi we are going to assist a democracy of dispensation.

"This is a great moment for Burundi. The work that we were asked to do has been completed; that is why we are now moving to a new phase which is the phase of consolidating peace."

The 15-year civil war resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Burundians.

"Greater stability"

Both the government and the FNL have praised the move to complete the peace process.

Evariste Ndayishimiye, the government's representative in the PPB, said Burundi was entering a phase that heralded greater stability.

"FNL is now part of Burundian society, with its integration in institutions and its involvement in the DDR [Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration] process," Ndayishimiye said.

However, he said there was a need to closely monitor the process as there will be "no more negotiations".

FNL leader Agathon Rwasa said a precise programme of action of the PBB should be drawn up to settle existing challenges, including dissatisfaction among some recently demobilised FNL combatants, scheduled to end in June.

With DDR expected to end in December, South African peacekeepers are expected to leave and their place taken by a Burundian unit comprising former FNL combatants integrated into the police and the army.

Scepticism

However, analysts have expressed scepticism over the completion of implementation of the ceasefire agreement, citing persistent reports of criminality.

Ramadhani Kibuga, a lecturer at a private university for peace and reconciliation in Bujumbura, said: "The time was not yet ripe for the end of the South African mediation. Even if combatants of the FNL were integrated in the national army and police, there are still many uncontrolled elements in the country.

"Considering the big number of combatants the FNL presented, the DDR process left many frustrated," Kibuga said. "They have a feeling they were left out of the process."

André Ndayishimiye, a political analyst, told IRIN: "The disarmament programme has not yet yielded significant results; acts of violence and abuses continue to occur as several arms remain in circulation in the hands of civilians."

He said the FNL had handed in very few arms, whereas it probably had many. "The national defence forces also need to be further sensitized in effectively protecting civilians," Ndayishimiye said.

bn-jb/js/mw