Western diplomats critical of Mandela's role in African peace talks

ARUSHA, Tanzania (Reuters) -- Nelson Mandela may have convinced most of Burundi's warring factions to sign a long-awaited peace plan, but diplomats fear he has shortsightedly forced them to accept a deal for a deal's sake.

On Monday, before an audience of 20 regional leaders and U.S. President Bill Clinton, Mandela got 13 of 19 factions to sign a peace deal intended to end nearly a decade of civil war in the tiny central African country.

But even those signing said it was too much, too soon.

TIME LINE Key Events in Burundi History

"No one was really ready for this," one Western diplomat told Reuters. "You sign an agreement when everybody accepts the consequences of what they are signing. You don't sign and say 'we'll work out the fine print later.'"

But that is precisely what Mandela appears to have convinced the Burundians to do, and diplomats fear he could have bitten off more than he can chew.

"To me this is just a deal for a deal's sake," said one diplomat. "It is like Chamberlain and his piece of paper promising 'peace in our time,'" he added, referring to the British prime minister who agreed to the ill-fated Munich Pact with Hitler in 1938.

Mandela has said himself that the real work still needs to be done. But analysts are puzzled as to why the veteran South African statesman felt it necessary to push so swiftly for a signed agreement.

He took over the role of chief mediator in the Burundi peace process last year following the death of former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere.

Mandela was probably the only African statesman with the respect and gravitas that Nyerere commanded, and his record as a champion of reconciliation spoke for itself.

But Mandela has probably found that the poles of politics in Burundi are further apart than those he fought against when he was jailed in South Africa and those he encountered when he emerged 27 years later to lead the country out of apartheid isolation.

In short, Mandela has convinced the Burundi government, the National Assembly, and the main Hutu and Tutsi political parties to approve a document calling for a transitional government that will oversee a radical change in the way the country is run.

This government would introduce fundamental changes to society that will eventually see the end of the domination of the minority Tutsis and the emergence of a meritocracy based on national identity rather than ethnicity.

But how exactly the transitional government will be selected and what safeguards have been put in place to assuage genuine Tutsi fears have still to be decided.

Despite the fanfare surrounding the peace deal, nothing will change in Burundi overnight. A ceasefire has still to be negotiated, the government remains in place until further notice and the Hutu rebellion is likely to continue.

Burundi's only other experiment with democracy ended in disaster in 1993 when Hutu president Melchior Ndadaye was murdered by Tutsi troops shortly after being elected.

His death sparked the latest round of a civil war in which more than 200,000 people -- mostly civilians -- have been killed in less than a decade.

Not everyone believes Mandela has gone too fast.

"If you don't focus their minds, they will take forever to decide even what to discuss," a member of the European Union's observation team told Reuters. "I think it is a smart move. He has told them 'O.K., you have this, now you have something to work with. Get on with it'."

But one scene on Monday at the conference centre where the peace talks were being held summed up Mandela's isolation among those that really matter in the process.

With dozens of regional heads of state chatting among themselves behind him, and Burundian delegations popping in and out of the hall to confer with each other in front, Mandela sat in isolation.

For over an hour he twiddled his thumbs as the Burundians decided whether or not to sign -- staring patiently ahead, waiting for them to make up their minds.

When the ceremony finally began and Mandela started speaking, the seats reserved for the six Tutsi delegations which refused to sign were empty.

They drifted in gradually, but reluctantly -- as if being ordered to a children's party they didn't really want to attend.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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