POLITICS: African Countries Getting Ready to Deploy Troops in Burundi

By Farah Khan Reprint | | Print |

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 23 2003 (IPS) - African countries are getting ready to deploy troops to Burundi in an effort to enforce a peace agreement between rebel movements and the government – just in case increased diplomatic efforts to end the civil war fail.

South Africa, Mozambique and Ethiopia have begun meeting to discuss the deployment of peacekeepers to Burundi, where an internationally brokered agreement is being hampered because at least one of the rebel movements is refusing to sign a peace pact with the country’s transitional government.

Under the peace agreement, signed last year, the rebel movements and the then Burundi government formed a transitional government, which will run the country until democratic elections can be held. Only one of the four main armed rebel groups, the Palipehutu-FNL, has refused to sign the cease-fire and has continued to launch armed attacks on military and other installations of the Burundi transitional government.

South African Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, who is facilitating the peace-talks, is meeting with representatives of the Burundi transitional government and the rebel movements that have signed-up for the cease-fire, this week.

South African officials say the talks are aimed at: finalising arrangements for the return of the fighters and leaders of the insurgents to Burundi; the participation of the former armed movements in the transitional institutions of the state and Parliament; and the disarmament and demobilisation of the rebel forces and the building of a new, inclusive security apparatus in the country.

The talks have already yielded some successes, with the leaders of the rebel Palipehutu-Forces for National Liberation (Palipehutu-FNL) and the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy, (CNDD-FDD) – who have both been in exile – announcing that they plan to return to Burundi in two weeks.

The two leaders – CNDD-FDD’s Jean Bosco Ndayikengurukiye and

Palipehutu-FNL’s Alain Mugabarabona – say they have concluded discussions on assembly points for their combatants in Burundi and their technical teams are currently working out the rest of the details of implementing the cease-fire agreement.

But, the cease-fire is being hindered by the refusal of Palipehutu-FNL, which is led by Agathon Rwasa, to sign the cease-fire and their continued attacks on the Burundi transitional government. Some of the rebel movements share the same name, but have different leaders.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Burundi transitional government claims their forces cannot always tell the difference between the rebel movements – which results in continuing clashes between those armed forces that have officially signed the cease-fire.. The rebel movements have rejected the transitional government’s excuse for what they consider unwarranted contraventions of the cease-fire. Despite the cease-fire, there have been continuing clashes between the rebel movements and the transitional government, in Burundi.

To ratchet-up the pressure on the armed groups outside the cease-fire and prevent unnecessary conflicts between the Burundi government and the rebel movements, efforts are underway to deploy an African peace force in the country.

The South African Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota, says the African mission would have to be a United Nations peace support operation. ”All indications – and expectations – are that it will have to be a United Nations operation, and that is where the funding will have to come from,” he says. He was speaking after a meeting with officials from Ethiopia and Mozambique, in South Africa, on Tuesday.

The meeting focussed on mandate of the African force and some of the technical and practical problems of a joint peace mission.

Jakkie Cilliers of South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies (ISS) points out that most of the troops will most likely have to come from Ethiopia. South Africa already has 700 troops in Burundi – who are protecting members of the transitional government – and does not have that many soldiers left who can be deployed on a peacekeeping mission, at short notice.

Mozambique also does not have much more that a company of troops, which it can deploy to Burundi. Ethiopia, on the other hand, has a large army that has recently been involved in a conflict with Eritrea – and is therefore ready for action. There have been indications that the peace force may be as large as three battalions.

The Burundi civil war heightened in 1993 and has claimed an estimated 300, 000 lives. The causes of the conflict are myriad, but include tensions between the country’s different ethnic groups