/ 21 January 2003

Mozambique, SA discuss Burundi peace force

The defence ministers of South Africa and Mozambique met on Tuesday for the first talks on details of deploying an African peacekeeping force in strife-torn Burundi.

The discussions largely focused on what the mandate of such a mission would be, South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told reporters in Pretoria.

”This is the first consultation… to look at the mandate such a mission will have to fulfill.”

The meeting also initiated a process by which the defence forces would determine what the contribution of each would be, Lekota said.

His Mozambican counterpart, Lieutenant-General Tobias Dai, said Mozambique, South Africa and Ethiopia had been asked to contribute to a peace mission in Burundi. This came after the signing in December of ceasefire accord between the Burundian government and the main rebel group, Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD). The pact was the first of its kind since Burundi’s civil war began in 1993.

Dai said: ”The monitoring of this (peace) process is necessary so that peace is guaranteed.”

It was too early to say when the peace force would be deployed or what its size would be, Lekota said.

Technical teams would have to visit Burundi first to determine the nature of peacekeeping needs in that country. There could, however, be no doubt about the need for speed.

”In situations in which a ceasefire has been signed, it is always prudent to move with the requisite speed. We will approach the task with some level of urgency.”

Lekota said the mission would have to be a United Nations peace support operation — unlike the 700-strong South African protection force currently deployed in Burundi.

”All indications — and expectations — are that it will have to a UN operation, and that is where the funding will have to come from.”

Maintaining the ceasefire signed in December has already proved to be difficult. The Burundian army claims it has problems monitoring the ceasefire because it cannot distinguish FDD rebels from members of the Forces for National Liberation (FNL) rebels, which is not a signatory to the ceasefire accord.

The FDD, for its part, has accused the army of reckless shelling and has called on the international community to urge the Bujumbura government to respect the pact.

Under the ceasefire agreement, the FDD fighters and government troops were to have stopped shooting at each other within 72 hours of the signing of the ceasefire on December 3.

Lekota said South Africa would have to find a way to contribute to the peacekeeping force. ”It’s a responsibility we cannot avoid.”

The South African protection force would continue its work in Burundi, which includes a programme to train a Burundian protection unit to take over its task.

”As soon as that programme delivers trained personnel, proportionate to that the withdrawal of the South African protection detachment will begin,” Lekota said. – Sapa