Notes Following Media Briefing at the Conclusion of the 2nd Meeting of Special Envoys on Burundi, Magaliesberg, South Africa, 10 June 2008

Comments by Special Envoy Ambassador Kingsley Mamabolo

Good afternoon members of the media. As you would have seen as you came in, we have a good story, I think. It is a good ending. Just from the atmosphere that you found as you came in here you would have seen that indeed we have a good story to tell.

We have been meeting for the past two days and we have with us here the result of that meeting, which is the “Magaliesberg Communiqué on the Burundi Peace Process”. The communiqué is self-explanatory.

Magaliesberg Communiqué on the Burundi Peace Process
10 June 2008

At the invitation of H.E. Minister Charles Nqakula, South African Facilitator of the Burundi Peace process, the Group of Special Envoys on Burundi met in Magaliesburg, South Africa from 9 to 10 June 2008 with delegations of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL and the Government of Burundi. Mr. Agathon Rwasa headed the PALIPEHUTU-FNL delegation, while the delegation of the Government of Burundi was headed by Major-General Evariste Ndayishimiye.

The Group of Special Envoys on Burundi congratulated the Government of Burundi and PALIPEHUTU-FNL on the major steps taken in the peace process in the past month, including the return to Burundi of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL leadership and Chairman Agathon Rwasa; the resumption of the work of the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism (JVMM); the cessation of hostilities between the parties and the adoption of a Joint Operational Plan on the disarmament, demobilization, and the reintegration of PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants. 

The Group of Special Envoys on Burundi welcomed the commitment of both parties to build confidence and move the peace process forward. It noted with satisfaction the common messages delivered by the Government of Burundi and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL on the root causes and consequences of the conflict as well as the key socio-economic challenges facing Burundi.

The Group of Special Envoys on Burundi expressed sincere gratitude and appreciation for the recent achievements and ongoing efforts of the Regional Peace Initiative for Peace in Burundi; the South African Facilitation; and the Political Directorate. It acknowledged the financial and military assistance provided by the Government of South Africa as well as that of Burundi’s international partners in support of the Burundi peace process.

The Group of Special Envoys on Burundi appealed to all political actors in Burundi to refrain from any action that could jeopardize the progress achieved, and underscored that the primary responsibility for the successful and earliest conclusion of the peace process lie with the Government of Burundi and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL.

The Government of Burundi and PALIPEHUTU-FNL renounced violence and undertook to resolve all their differences by dialogue. They agreed to fully respect the timelines outlined in the Revised Programme of Action to Take Further the Burundi Peace Process, including the implementation of the agreements signed in 2006. Both parties will endevour to address simultaneously all the outstanding political issues, including the political accommodation of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL in national institutions as well as the integration of its combatants in the security and defence forces.

The Government of Burundi and PALIPEHUTU-FNL undertook to take specific initiatives in order to sensitize the national institutions, Palipehutu-FNL members, and the population on the ongoing peace process; refrain from any inflammatory action or declaration; and find as soon as possible a mutually acceptable solution to the question of the registration and the name of the Palipehutu-FNL as a political party

The Group of Special Envoys on Burundi undertook to continue to accompany the efforts of the Facilitation and to the Political Directorate. In this context, the Group of Special Envoys on Burundi will continue mobilising the international community to provide financial support to the Facilitation and the peace process, including interceding with donors on the provision of humanitarian assistance until the conclusion of the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration process. The Group of Special Envoys on Burundi expressed its intention to support the transformation of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL into a political party, including the provision of training of its cadres. The Group of Special Envoys on Burundi will also pay special attention to the reintegration aspects of the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration process of PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants. It will promote security sector reform efforts for the integration of PALIPEHUTU-FNL members in the national security forces.

In order to help create an environment conducive to the peace process, the Group of Special Envoys on Burundi agreed to consider ways of providing financial support to the Government of Burundi to address the pressures caused by rising prices of food and fuel.

All participants thanked the Government and people of South Africa for their gracious hospitality in hosting this important meeting.

End

Comments by Special Envoy Ambassador Kingsley Mamabolo

This is really not a negotiating forum but in a situation like this every forum becomes a negotiating forum. If you look at this declaration that these two parties have made – they make declarations and commitments – you should acknowledge that those commitments they are making, which are also a process of interaction and talking to each other on some of the issues, take us a step further forward in this process.

So although we came here specifically to interact with the international community – with all the Special Envoys on the Great Lakes from all over the world – we ended up discussing our obligations. The declaration refers to the obligation of the government; the obligation of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL and the obligation of the international community, which as I said are not just declarations we put on paper but we hope and expect to see them implemented. So in a sense, yes it ended up being a forum in which we engaged on some aspects, clarifying the commitments particularly in view of how we take this process forward.

The international community was also saying: “If you want us to assist both with the process now and also assist Burundi post conflict socio-economic reconstruction and development, you have to give us a clear indication of what you are doing; we have to leave here with full knowledge that you people are committed to this process”. 

So they have required commitment from the parties – that everyone of them are committed to a peaceful resolution of the problem and therefore to move on towards the development of Burundi.

On the part of the two colleagues here from the government and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, there was also an eagerness to demonstrate to the international community that “We are done now with the past and we are no longer fighting. As the communiqué and the declaration are saying: Peace now, war is gone forever and hopefully not to come back”.

And all these people that you are seeing here – the purpose of the meeting is to make sure that they assist the government and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL in making sure that war does not come back.

In short, we had this nature of meeting; we had this meeting of Special Envoys in Cape Town before, as you know. We have come now for the second meeting but this time with the parties, to take stock of what we have done since February. Around February there was absolutely no hope. That country was plunged deep down in serious crisis; people were dying on a daily basis. It is a new chapter now. You can see us smiling and happy – it is not just because we like each other but also because indeed there is peace in Burundi.

We were just interacting with the international community and saying to the world: it is a new phase of struggle for Burundi which would require the assistance of all these people who are here.

Questions and Answers

Question: (Inaudible but relating to) mobilising international community for financial support of the Burundi Peace Process?

Answer: For the first question, which you asked us to be more specific; we have budgets. I am not a very financial person and I am not going to go into the figures. But I can make sure that if you want them, we can forward those budgets – they are not approved yet because the international community would want to digest what we are presenting to them; and so they will take them home and look at them.
                       
The summary of what we want supported by the international community is:
                       
For them to assist with the facilitation of this peace process. For example we have South African troops in Burundi troops – it has been the South African government that has been carrying that burden.
                       
You have, as part of those troops by the South African government, what we call the protection unit – we would need that kind of assistance.
                       
Also to bring back the PALIPEHUTU-FNL we have to accommodate them, so the facilitation office that is there will need financial assistance – we are appealing to colleagues here to come on board.
                       
But it is not that everything is by the South African government – we have here and there been receiving support from the international community. But of course it is our duty here now to renew it at all times.
                       
Now that we have combatants of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL coming back and the peaces process itself – just to monitor it you have to create things like the Joint Liaison Team (JLT) to monitor the violation of the ceasefire. That implies cars for moving around; the JLT on the release of political prisoners – just what the work of the facilitation team entails. But further and even beyond that is the fact that as a result of this action taken by these two parties we are going to have peace in Burundi; we are going to have to talk about the return of refugees, so the relevant agencies must take charge and they must make sure that their finances are prepared and the refugees are returned; we are going to talk about displaced persons – we are going to have relevant people dealing with that.
                       
We have talked about the Joint Operations Plan – something that talks to the demobilisation, disarmament and so on. To do all that, to take these combatants from being combatants to people who can join the army implies finances; to demobilise them and for them to join society implies finances. But also very importantly we are no longer just looking at the peace process itself but we are looking beyond this process to say how can we help the Burundians’ post conflict reconstruction. They themselves made presentations here to the international community. They talked about schools that are dilapidated; children who are suffering; hunger generally, and as you know war indeed is about resources. As long as we do not help them out of this process financially to develop their country to meet those humanitarian and many other needs it is still very possible for people to slide back into the conflict and the chaos.

Question: To engage or accommodate the PALIPEHUTU-FNL people within government institutions – does this in any way include within Parliament? In relation to the evolution of the rebel movement into a political party – are the any kind of conditions that have been set with regard to issues of disarming?
                       
Answer: Parliament will again have to determine how they do that themselves and that is why we have engaged to ensure integration. But I cannot say now how it is going to take place until they themselves determine that; and we are there to help facilitate that. They also have elections that are coming up in 2010 – so it is part of that. Part of it is also that you would have the PALIPEHUTU-FNL transforming into a political party and you would have them stopping fighting and there would be no incidents. There are a whole lot of issues involved to create an environment that would lead to democratic elections. They must also themselves as parties begin to talk about what do they do between now and 2010; how do they make sure that indeed this process is very democratic, transparent and comfortable to everybody. They have put those issues on the table and we are in the process of negotiating. When we have finalised them all you will get to know.
                       
Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
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11 June 2008