BURUNDI: ETHIOPIAN PEACEKEEPERS ARRIVE IN BUJUMBURA

Record ID: 649114

  • Title: BURUNDI: ETHIOPIAN PEACEKEEPERS ARRIVE IN BUJUMBURA
  • Date: 28th September 2003
  • Summary: (W5) BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (SEPTEMBER 27, 2003) (REUTERS) SLV ETHIOPIAN PEACEKEEPERS DESCENDING FROM AEROPLANE; SLV AEROPLANE AND BURUNDI SOLDIERS WATCHING FROM OTHER SIDE OF FENCE (3 SHOTS) SLV ETHIOPIAN PEACEKEEPERS COLLECTING THEIR BAGS; SLV PEACEKEEPERS WALKING OVER AIRPORT TARMAC; SLV PEACEKEEPERS STANDING IN FORMATION (4 SHOTS) SCU BADGE SHOWING PEACEKEEPER'S IDENTIFICATION; SLV PEACEKEEPERS IN FORMATION; SLV ETHIOPIAN PEACEKEEPERS MARCHING AND CARRYING ETHIOPIAN FLAG (3 SHOTS) MV AFRICAN UNION POLITICAL DIRECTOR, MAMADOU BAH ARRIVING AT AIRPORT IN CAR WITH AFRICAN UNION FLAG; MV MAMADOU BAH SHAKING HANDS WITH LEADER OF ETHIOPIAN PEACEKEEPERS CONTINGENT AND HANDING HIM AFRICAN UNION FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFRICAN UNION POLITICAL DIRECTOR, MAMADOU BAH SAYING "You are not here to wage war, you are here to fight for peace, to do your best to bring this country to peace." SLV PEACEKEEPERS WITH AFRICAN UNION AND ETHIOPIAN FLAGS MARCHING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 13th October 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUJUMBURA, KIBIMBA, MATANA, AND GITEGA, BURUNDI
  • Country: Burundi
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA52AQ0YHLMGFPGOEY2Y39QTUTZ
  • Story Text: Ethiopian peacekeepers have follow their South African counterparts to Burundi Ethiopian peacekeepers arrived in Burundi on Saturday (September 27) as part of the African Union force monitoring a shaky ceasefire between Tutsi-led government troops and rebels of the Hutu ethnic majority, officials said.
    "You are not here to wage war but to fight for peace, to do your best to bring this country to peace. It will not be so easy," Mamadou Bah, the mission's political director, told the 226 Ethiopian troops.
    Ethiopia is one of three countries which have pledged a total of 3,000 troops for peacekeeping in Burundi where 300,000 people have died in a decade of war.
    Delayed by lack of funds, Ethiopia's force arrived exactly five months after the first South Africans, who now number 1,600.
    The Ethiopian force commander expected 900 Ethiopian troops would be in Burundi by next Sunday (October 5).
    The third country, Mozambique, has yet to deploy any of its 200-strong force, but hopes to do so by the end of the month.
    The so-called African mission will stay for a year to shore up a truce signed by the government and the main rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), pending the expected deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force.
    Both the rebels and the army have broken the truce. And a second Hutu rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), has so far refused to enter into any ceasefire agreement.
    The African Mission is expected to provide safe passage for the warring parties to designated assembly areas, to help disarm and reintegrate fighters and ease delivery of humanitarian aid.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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