Spotlight: Rival parties in Burundi warned to learn from two World Wars' experiences

Rival parties in the on-going Burundi conflicts have been warned to learn experiences from the two world wars on how such unrest can badly cost a community socially and economically.

This is one of the advices made by facilitators of the Inter-Burundian Peace Dialogue kicked off on Saturday in northern Tanzania's safari capital of Arusha.

The four-day dialogue sessions are taking place here under the facilitation of Benjamin William Mkapa, the former Tanzanian President.

The original Burundi Peace Accord was signed in Arusha when Mkapa was in power and supervision alongside the former South African Head of State, the late Nelson Mandela.

Speaking on behalf of the Diplomatic Community during the opening of the Burundi Dialogue Process here, Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Tanzania, Ambassador Roeland van de Geer said: "In Europe we learned the hard way, it took us two world wars to realize the importance of peace and conflicts resolutions," he said.

For his part the facilitator, Mkapa pointed out that, it was the Barundi that held the responsibility of ensuring peace in their country.

"We are all aware that this is a Burundi problem and it can be solved only by Barundi themselves (the people of Burundi)," he said, adding that his only role was to facilitate the dialogue and reach amicable solution.

"Our role here as mediators is to give ample time and space to all stakeholders to express their views on the way forward and for this reason I have sent invitations to former heads of state and political parties in Burundi, Civil Society Organizations, Faith-based groups, Prominent political actors as well as women and youth group," he said.

Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on the Great Lakes, Ambassador Jamal Benomaar also stated that the UN Security Council was very much concerned on the situation in Burundi.

"The Security Council has given its full support to the East African Community-led meditation efforts under the Ugandan Head of State, President Yoweri Museveni and commended the EAC decision to appoint former Tanzania President to facilitate the process," he said.

Mkapa was appointed as the facilitator for the Burundi peace talks by the Summit of the East African Heads of State a regional community, comprising of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi itself.

Mkapa reportedly delayed the talks that were supposed to be held between the 2nd and 6th of May this year explaining that the postponement would provide ample space for more consultations between the facilitator and all concerned parties.

The Burundian government previously refused to attend the Arusha dialogue, which failed to resume in January. It claimed it had not been consulted and that it would sit on the same table with "non-peaceful actors".

Burundi plunged into turmoil in April last year when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would run for a third term, during the country's general elections which he did and eventually won the polls amid protests from some parties.

Nkurunziza's decision was described by the opposition as being unconstitutional, and as a result, triggered protests and violence, in which more than 400 people got killed while some other 270,000 were forced to flee en-masse to neighboring countries, including Tanzania. Endit