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Sout
h African Deputy President Jacob Zuma will carry out a
scheduled tour of the troubled Great Lakes region this week as
Burundi is in the grips of a massive rebel assault on the capital
Bujumbura.
Zuma, a "facilitator" in protracted negotiations to end Burundi's
10-year-old civil war, will visit Uganda and Rwanda as well as
Burundi, his office said in a statement.
The mission coincides with an offensive launched last Monday by
Hutu rebels of the National Liberation Forces (FNL), which has
claimed 200 lives.
The trip to discuss the transition process for the central African
country had been planned long before the current fighting broke
out, a spokesperson said yesterday.
The statement from Zuma's office said: "Deputy President Zuma is
concerned about the violence and loss of life reported in Burundi
this week, and appeals to all parties to respect the transitional
process and work towards lasting peace in their country".
The FNL, unlike other armed groups in Burundi, has so far refused
to enter into talks for a negotiated settlement of the civil war,
which has claimed more than 300 000 lives.
Three other rebel groups signed a ceasefire agreement in
December.
Zuma is set to arrive in the Ugandan capital Kampala today ahead of
talks with President Yoweri Museveni, who heads a regional
initiative on Burundi, and Vice President Gilbert Bukenya
tomorrow.
The following day Zuma is to hold consultations in Kigali with
Rwandan President Paul Kagame before heading to Bujumbura for talks
with members of Burundi's interim government.
An African intervention force of troops from South Africa, Ethiopia
and Mozambique, the first to be deployed by the fledgling African
Union, has been slow to arrive in Burundi, with 1 250 men on the
ground of a total planned force of 2 870.
As part of the peace process in Burundi, Domitien Ndayizeye, a
Hutu, took over as president from Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, in April
for the second 18 months of an interim power-sharing regime. -
Sapa-AFP.
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