Issued by: Office of the Presidency
29 March 2001
Deputy President Jacob Zuma today met with a delegation from Palipehutu-FNL from Burundi, at his residence in Pretoria.
The delegation was led by Alain Mugabarabona and other senior officers from the High Command of the Palipehutu-FNL in Burundi. This was the first official meeting with the new leadership of the movement.
The Palipehutu-FNL delegation reaffirmed its commitment to peace in Burundi.
They also confirmed their readiness to meet with the Government of Burundi to discuss a set of demands before joining actual peace negotiations.
The demands were handed to the Deputy President in the form of a letter.
The two sides agreed to meet soon where these demands would be discussed.
The Deputy President and the delegation agreed that the talks were fruitful and helped to create an understanding of the way to finding peace in Burundi.
Yesterday, (March 28) the Deputy President held meetings in Libreville, Gabon, with President Omar Bongo of Gabon, a delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo - representing President Joseph Kabila who was travelling to Europe - and a delegation representing President Pierre Buyoya of Burundi.
The meetings were part of the process of continuing discussions between the armed groups and the Government of Burundi regarding achieving a cease-fire in Burundi.
All delegations, which were met separately, recommitted themselves to finding peaceful solutions to the problems of Burundi.
President Bongo stressed that his involvement in the process is only to complement the work being done by former President Nelson Mandela and that he would continue backing South African peace efforts in Burundi.
The armed group, CNDD-FDD, which is based in the DRC, was not able to attend the meeting due to certain difficulties.
In the meetings with the different delegations, an agreement was reached that a meeting of all parties - to include the armed group and the Burundi government - should take place in Libreville on 17 April.
The delegations were of the view that the CNDD-FDD will have overcome the difficulties, which made them miss yesterday's meeting and that they would attend.