afrol News, 21 May - The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the situation in Burundi is still very fragile.

He said a fresh outbreak of fighting in the Central African country could derail valuable progress made since a peace agreement was reached in 2000.

“The recent rapid relapse into violent conflict is alarming evidence of the extreme fragility of the situation in Burundi," Mr Ban said in a report to the Security Council.

The UN chief condemned the continued fatal clashed between the government and the Paliphehutu-FNL group. He said "nothing justifies the loss of innocent lives resulting from this fighting", especially in a country where a gruesome civil war had earlier claimed thousands of lives.

Despite the signing of the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement in 2006, more than 100 people have been killed in the capital Bujumbura and its suburbs in recent weeks.

Unless the peace pact is not "put back on track," he said, "the new cycle of violence could undo all the gains painstakingly made by the people of Burundi since the signing of the Arusha Agreement eight years ago".

Mr Ban feared that the resumption of hostilities and political instabilitiy could threaten the stability in the Great Lakes region.

He called on both the government and the FNL to end fighting and return to dialogue to solve their differences. While urging the FNL to return to Burundi and participate in the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism and the Political Directorate [components of the ceasefire] the Secretary General also asked the Burundian government to give priority to the implementation of the agreement.

Besides, he said issues that fueled insecurity and the reintegration of ex-fighters must be addressed in "an environment characterised by abdject poverty, high unemployment, and sharply rising fuel and food prices."

The report noted the reported alarming new cases of torture and summary executions by the police and the national intelligence service.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories