Five African presidents were to discuss the latest advances in the Burundi peace process in Tanzania today, in the wake of the slaughter of 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees in the tiny central African nation, officials said.

Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Levi Mwanawasa of Zambia and Joseph Kabila of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are expected to arrive overnight or early today, a Tanzanian foreign ministry official told AFP.

Already arrived in Dar es Salaam was President Domicien Ndayizeye of Burundi, where 160 people were last Friday slaughtered in Gatumba, in a raid claimed by the country's last rebel active group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL). The rebel group still rubbishes the entire peace process.

Despite the claim, authorities in Bujumbura and in Rwanda, as well as survivors, say DRC forces and Rwandan extremist Hutu militias took part.

Rwanda and Uganda will be represented by a foreign minister and a vice president respectively, the official said.

The summit is set to be the scene for ratifying a power-sharing accord reached in South Africa early in August between Hutus, making up 85% of Burundi's population, and Tutsis, who constitute 14%.

The document was signed by most Burundian political parties with the notable exception of ten Tutsi movements, including the leading Union for National Progress (Uprona), which considered it gave too much to the Hutus.

The text is meant to be the basis for a constitution which will theoretically take effect on November 1, when the country is scheduled to begin its post-transition politics.

But Burundi watchers have warned that the Gatumba massacre, which has attracted international condemnation, "risks overshadowing the power-sharing issue." – Sapa-AFP.