Museveni Meets Burundi Leader
Jul 30, 2003
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said very good progress has been made in the Burundi peace process to stop bloodshed in which more than 300,000 people have perished in the last 10 years.
By Felix Osike, Stuart Price
and Alfred Wasike
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said very good progress has been made in the Burundi peace process to stop bloodshed in which more than 300,000 people have perished in the last 10 years.
Burundi President Domitien Ndayizeye, who made his second state visit to Uganda in two months, had just concluded talks with Museveni at Nakasero State House yesterday.
Ndayizeye has also visited South Africa where he met President Thabo Mbeki. He is the head of a transitional government, which was formed following an August 2000 peace deal that provides for ethnic power sharing.
Museveni said, “We have had discussions and noted very good progress. We have agreed to accelerate the process.â€
He said an advance party of the Council for National Defence of Democracy (CNDD), the main rebel group, was in Bujumbura to inspect bodies of the transitional government.â€
Museveni said the visit by the CNDD officials was a sign that peace was about to be achieved.
The two presidents also hailed the rebels for releasing three members of the Burundi Parliament taken hostage for allegedly infiltrating an area under Pierre Nkurunziza’s CNDD control.
The press conference lasted only four minutes and Museveni said he could not reveal the details of their discussion. The Burundian president who succeeded Major Pierre Buyoya as part of the Museveni led-Burundi Peace Initiative, thanked his Ugandan counterpart for his efforts to advance the process of peace in Burundi.
“I am very happy he has accepted to double efforts to reach peace in Burundi. I thank the people of Uganda for their level of support,†said Ndayizeye who left yesterday for Tanzania to consult President Benjamin Mkapa.
“The next step is to stop the war between the government and the CNDD,†he added. He was optimistic that the decade-long conflict would soon end.
Museveni is regional chairman of the Burundi peace initiative after taking over from former South African leader Nelson Mandela.
Ndayizeye was received at Entebbe Airport by Vice-President Prof Gilbert Bukenya. They travelled to the Kampala Sheraton hotel in Museveni’s armoured black Mercedes Benz flanked on all sides in a diamond formation by police outriders on powerful BMW motorbikes.
Curious on-lookers waved at the passing head of state.
Ends
and Alfred Wasike
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said very good progress has been made in the Burundi peace process to stop bloodshed in which more than 300,000 people have perished in the last 10 years.
Burundi President Domitien Ndayizeye, who made his second state visit to Uganda in two months, had just concluded talks with Museveni at Nakasero State House yesterday.
Ndayizeye has also visited South Africa where he met President Thabo Mbeki. He is the head of a transitional government, which was formed following an August 2000 peace deal that provides for ethnic power sharing.
Museveni said, “We have had discussions and noted very good progress. We have agreed to accelerate the process.â€
He said an advance party of the Council for National Defence of Democracy (CNDD), the main rebel group, was in Bujumbura to inspect bodies of the transitional government.â€
Museveni said the visit by the CNDD officials was a sign that peace was about to be achieved.
The two presidents also hailed the rebels for releasing three members of the Burundi Parliament taken hostage for allegedly infiltrating an area under Pierre Nkurunziza’s CNDD control.
The press conference lasted only four minutes and Museveni said he could not reveal the details of their discussion. The Burundian president who succeeded Major Pierre Buyoya as part of the Museveni led-Burundi Peace Initiative, thanked his Ugandan counterpart for his efforts to advance the process of peace in Burundi.
“I am very happy he has accepted to double efforts to reach peace in Burundi. I thank the people of Uganda for their level of support,†said Ndayizeye who left yesterday for Tanzania to consult President Benjamin Mkapa.
“The next step is to stop the war between the government and the CNDD,†he added. He was optimistic that the decade-long conflict would soon end.
Museveni is regional chairman of the Burundi peace initiative after taking over from former South African leader Nelson Mandela.
Ndayizeye was received at Entebbe Airport by Vice-President Prof Gilbert Bukenya. They travelled to the Kampala Sheraton hotel in Museveni’s armoured black Mercedes Benz flanked on all sides in a diamond formation by police outriders on powerful BMW motorbikes.
Curious on-lookers waved at the passing head of state.
Ends