A South African-brokered meeting to iron out differences between Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye and his chief political rival will finally take place on Sunday, a government spokesperson said.
The official, who earlier said the talks had been postponed, announced that South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the mediator in the Burundian peace process, will now be able to shepherd the talks over the weekend.
”Things have changed in the course of Friday,” Zuma’s spokesperson Lakela Kaunda said.
”This morning the deputy president’s diary was clear and there was absolutely no sign of the Burundians coming here soon.”
”But after further talks, it has been decided that President Domitien Ndayizeye and Pierre Nkurunziza, leader of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy, will be arriving here [on] Sunday and are scheduled to meet the deputy president late that afternoon,” she said.
Kaunda was unable to elaborate on why the arrangements had changed.
The talks are aimed mainly at resolving the impasse between Ndayizeye and Nkurunziza over the appointment of the interior minister.
Ndayizeye’s Burundi Democratic Front (FRODEBU) and the FDD are currently locked in a bitter row over the appointment of a new interior minister to fill the vacant portfolio and have been jockeying for the position ahead of as-yet unscheduled polls.
The two Hutu groups are seen as the strongest political players in the tiny Central African nation that is still emerging from nearly 12 years of civil war that has claimed some 300 000 lives.
Last month, African Great Lakes leaders extended over the protests of the FDD the mandate of Ndayizeye’s transitional government until August 26.
A new government is to be sworn in on that date following a series of elections to be completed by August 19, according to the terms of the extended mandate. – Sapa-AFP