Deputy President Jacob Zuma will fly out of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to South Africa on Tuesday to attend to his parliamentary and state obligations, his office said on Monday.
Zuma, who was in Tanzania to chair Burundi’s peace talks, would return to Dar es Salaam on Thursday to continue the discussions. Zuma is chairing the Burundi ceasefire negotiations. ”I will return to South Africa tomorrow (Tuesday) due to parliamentary and state commitments and will return to Tanzania on the October 31 to continue the facilitation task,” he said in a statement.
At the weekend, the various Burundian factions — including the Burundi transitional government, the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) and Palipehutu Forces for National Liberation (Palipehutu-FNL) — reached a deadlock on the issue of cessation of hostilities.
The CNDD-FDD proposed the ceasefire negotiations should be preceded by a discussion and conclusion of an agreement on the cessation of hostilities, arguing that this would create the environment for the ceasefire negotiations to take place.
The Burundian government delegation said the issue of the cessation of hostilities was part of the general draft ceasefire agreement and that it could be dealt with in the process of negotiating the ceasefire agreement.
It was opposed to separating the cessation of hostilities from the ceasefire agreement, and added that the manner in which the CNDD-FDD was proposing the separation made government interpret it as a precondition before the beginning of actual ceasefire negotiations.
”Government emphasised that the government was committed to working towards the complete cessation of hostilities as part of the comprehensive ceasefire agreement,” Zuma said.
”The CNDD-FDD pointed out that the demand for the separation of the cessation of hostilities from the ceasefire document was not a precondition on its part, and that its delegation was ready to begin negotiations on the draft ceasefire document.”
The two parties could not agree on the matter, and the CNDD-FDD said it would announce a unilateral declaration on the cessation of hostilities, but would reserve the right of defence and pursuit if attacked.
Zuma said: ”The parties agreed to begin actual ceasefire negotiations tomorrow (Tuesday).
”Meanwhile, the discussions with the Palipehutu-FNL resumed this afternoon (Monday) … after a delay due to logistical problems on the side of the organisation.”
The CNDD-FDD delegation is headed by its leader Pierre Nkurunziza, the transitional government by President Pierre Buyoya and the Palipehutu-FNL by its vice-president Jean-Bosco Sindayigaya. – Sapa-AFP