Just when you thought that ZUMA's SDF would would resolve this Burundi issue.... and now Annan is Yelling!!!
Remember I told you that the south American are going to stay in Burundi until thy Kingdom come!!!...Now what I have said has come to pass!!
Annan wants fast UN action on Burundi peace force
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS, March 19 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council on Friday to rush peacekeepers to Burundi to help end a decade of civil war.
"A decision, at least in principle, should be taken quickly, if possible before April 2," Annan said in a report to the 15-nation council.
With elections for a new government tentatively set to take place by Oct. 31 in the central African nation, a U.N. mission could help prepare for the vote, monitor a cease-fire, clear mines and disarm rebel troops, he said.
Peacekeepers also could help stem the illegal flow of arms into neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also struggling to put behind it a long civil war, he said.
A U.N. mission including 5,650 soldiers and 120 civilian police would be required to do the job, he said.
Burundi has been torn by a decade of civil war in which rebels from the Hutu majority fought to end the traditional and military dominance of the minority Tutsi community.
Some 300,000 people had been killed by the time African nations sent 2,656 peacekeeping troops to Burundi a year ago.
While the army is still battling the Forces for the National Liberation rebel group, which has refused to join the peace process, other rebel groups have joined the government as part of a three-year transition to democracy that is due to wrap up by Oct. 31.
But Burundi, the African Union and South Africa, which is overseeing the peace process, have told the Security Council that while the African-led mission has made great gains, it would soon run short on resources and should be taken over by the United Nations. The mandate of the African force is due to expire on April 2.
Burundi, a tea and coffee exporter with a population of 6 million people, "has never before had such an opportunity for lasting peace. Yet the Burundian population continues to live in fear," Annan said in his report.
"It lives in fear of abuse and abject poverty, and in the fear that the upcoming elections will result in turmoil, as has been the case in every multi-party election in Burundi since its independence" in July 1962, he said. But "appropriate and targeted" international assistance can help Burundi stage elections, develop its economy and achieve peace.
03/19/04 17:47 ET
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
