Three African countries – South Africa, Ethiopia and Mozambique – are set to deploy troops next week to the troubled Burundi to help with monitoring the implementation of the recently struck ceasefire deal between the Burundian government and rebel armed forces.

Addressing the Johannesburg Press Club this afternoon, mediator in the Burundian conflict and South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, said the three nations would be sending a joint force to the Great Lakes country, saying the matter was urgent.

He said Africa could no longer afford conflicts as they interfered with the region’s development and prosperity.

‘War and conflict cannot exist side by side with development and peace,’ said the mediator.

Mr Zuma’s remarks follows the meeting with Burundian President Pierre Buyoya and rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza, over the weekend in Pretoria, regarding the implementation phase of the pact which has been widely hailed by the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU).

Asked how much the country was paying towards the deployment of the force, Mr Zuma said it was too early to speculate as costs could be determined by how the UN and AU could contribute to the mission.

He further added that benefits for investing in peace far outweighed investing in conflicts that ultimately led to disaster and backwardness.

In 2001, under the captaincy of former President Nelson Mandela, a three-year transitional government was established in Burundi in a bid to bring to a halt a ten-year old war that had claimed about a quarter of a million of civilian lives.

The transitional government was to be led by a Tutsi President for the first 18 months and then passed on to a Hutu president for the next 18 months. – BuaNews