Chief mediator in the Burundi peace process, Nelson Mandela, has called on international donors to double to $880-million the amount of aid they pledged to Burundi. Mandela expressed his certainty that donors who at the Paris Conference in December 2000 promised $440-million in aid to Burundi would honour their pledges once a transitional power-sharing government is installed in the war-torn African country on November 1. “But I want to ask them to double that amount, and I think that I am going to succeed because (French) President Jacques Chirac is supporting me strongly, as well as Prime Minister Lionel Jospin,” Mandela said. The former South African president also said he would reduce his role in the Burundi peace process once the transitional government is in place in Bujumbura. – AFP