Burundi seeks vice president

Burundi seeks vice president

By Prime Ndikumagenge
BBC, Bujumbura

Burundi should have a new Hutu president in the next two weeks but uncertainty remains over who will be his deputy.

According to the terms of the peace agreement for the transitional national government, President Pierre Buyoya, who is a Tutsi, is due to hand over to his current Hutu vice president Domitien Ndayizeye on 1 May.

President Buyoya (right) has taken advice and is stepping down

But what is not known so far is who will be the new second-in-command.

The ethnic Tutsi-dominated parties, who are to provide the candidate, are still debating who to choose and time is running out for them.

President Buyoya has asked the Tutsi dominated political parties to come up with one name by Friday.

They are meeting again tonight after failing to agree someone last Sunday.

Possibles

The three aspirants are:

Alphonse Kadege, the leader of the strongest and most influential of all Tutsi parties, the Union for National Progress (Uprona), the party of President Buyoya.

Colonel Epitas Bayaganakandi, leader of a party that is not a signatory to the Arusha peace accords, but who enjoys the support of four parties strongly opposed to Uprona and President Buyoya.

Ambassador Nsanze Terence, leader of a small party, the Burundi African Alliance for Salvation (Abasa).

Of the three, Uprona's candidate Alsphonse Kadege is the most likely to become the vice president.

His major challenger Colonel Epitas Bayaganakandi is weakened by the fact that neither he as an individual, nor his newly-started MRC party, participated in the Arusha negotiation process governing the country's political life at the moment.