Mandela stresses need for progress in Burundi peace talks

February 21, 2000
Web posted at: 1:52 p.m. EST (1852 GMT)

ARUSHA, Tanzania -- Nelson Mandela warned participants that time and money for Burundi peace talks is running out as new efforts to end the country's long civil war got under way Monday.

The former South African president has enlisted the help of an array of world leaders in his bid to end the conflict but his intervention has failed to entice the main rebel groups involved to join the talks in Tanzania.

Mandela and Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa both stressed in remarks Monday that the latest round of talks needs to produce progress in order to ensure the continued support of the international community.

Mandela's involvement in the talks has raised the international profile of the struggle. He is joined at the talks by his successor, Thabo Mbeki , and at least five other African presidents, while U.S. President Bill Clinton and French President Jacques Chirac are expected to address the meeting by videolink.

The American president will even come to Arusha if the peace process is still going on when he visits in June, Mandela said.

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CNN's Catherine Bond has the latest on Burundi peace talks 1000k/45 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

'Rebel groups must be included'

Mandela says he is working hard to find a way to involve the rebels in the talks between government and opposition parties, which have dragged on for more than 18 months while the killings continue in the Burundian countryside.

"If we want to resolve this issue and bring about peace in Burundi, these rebel groups must be included," Mandela told reporters after arriving in Arusha on Sunday night. "There can be no peace at all if the process is not all inclusive."

The government also wants the rebels to be included in the talks. But some opposition groups, wary perhaps of diluting their own influence, are less sure, while the rebels themselves would prefer direct bilateral talks with the government.

Fighting between ethnic Hutu rebels and an army dominated by the Tutsi minority has already cost 200,000 lives in the tiny central African state since 1993, and every week brings new reports of civilians killed by either side.

The continuing violence is undermining the fragile trust which Mandela is trying to build.

Correspondent Catherine Bond and Reuters contributed to this report.

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