South African President Jacob Zuma ended a three-day visit to Burundi on Friday, applauding democratic improvements in a country where he once helped broker a peace deal to end civil war.
“We have come to the end of a visit full of success,” Zuma said at a press conference alongside his Burundian counterpart Pierre Nkurunziza.
“I am happy today to be on a state visit in a Burundi that is peaceful, a Burundi that is democratic,” he said and complemented Nkurunziza’s leadership.
While serving as South Africa’s deputy president, Zuma mediated peace deals to end a years-long ethnic conflict that erupted in 1993.
A Burundi opposition coalition on Wednesday called on Zuma to broker talks between it and the government over a recent spate of attacks that has stoked fears of a renewed all-out war.
Key Burundi opposition figures went undercover or fled the country after President Pierre Nkurunziza was re-elected last year in polls they said were rigged by the government.
Nkurunziza last month called on the exiled leaders to return home for dialogue, a move welcomed by the opposition, but no talks have started.
On Thursday, South Africa and Burundi signed cooperation deals in defence, education and agriculture.
Nkurunziza told journalists he believed the people of both countries would benefit. — AFP