Zuma, who was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, was speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday at the launch of the African Union Peace and Security Council that has been empowered to curb conflicts on the continent.
The PSC, launched yesterday, will be the standing decision-making organ for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
It will be the collective security and early-warning arrangement to facilitate timely and efficient response to conflict and crisis situations in Africa.
The UN Security Council Resolution authorises the deployment of a UN peacekeeping operation in Burundi starting on June 1, under the UN operation in Burundi (ONUB), to support the movement towards peace in the Great Lakes region.
The UN will take over the (AMIB), which involved South Africa, Mozambique and Ethiopian troops, that have played an interim role since March 2003, preparing the conditions for a UN involvement.
The resolution comes after Zuma had made numerous requests to the UN Security Council, to take over AMIB, saying that 95% of the country had attained peace, giving the UN enough reason to deploy a peace-keeping mission in the country.
Zuma expressed his appreciation to the Council, saying the UN response was an indication of the international community's realisation of the urgency of bringing about peace and stability on the African continent.
He assured the Council of South Africa's continued participation in efforts aimed at achieving peace and stability in Burundi.
He praised the leadership and staff of the AMIB, headed by Ambassador Mamadou Bah, the Special Representative of the AU in Burundi, for their hard work over the past year, in fulfilling the mandate of the AU and executing their tasks in an outstanding manner, despite the difficult conditions on the ground.
The Deputy President also commended the Mozambican and Ethiopian soldiers as well as observers from other countries in the continent, who formed part of the AMIB.
He also acknowledged the key role played by the Great Lakes Regional initiative on Burundi, especially Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania, and said the AMIB would go down in history as an excellent example of an African solution to local security challenges, and would remain a good model for future African interventions in peacekeeping.
Meanwhile, a meeting on Burundi will take place in Pretoria this Sunday and will be attended by all stakeholders in the country.
Consequently, a Regional Summit on Burundi will take place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on June 5.
The two meetings are aimed at taking the peace process forward - BuaNews
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