SA troops heading to Burundi

The conflict has raged for nearly a decade

By Barnaby Phillips in Johannesburg

South Africa and Burundi have signed an agreement paving the way for the deployment of South African peacekeeping troops outside their borders for the first time since the end of apartheid.

South African officials say they still need authorisation from the United Nations Security Council.

But mediators in the Burundian peace process have told the BBC that South African troops could be deployed within days.

South Africa is ready to involve its army in efforts to resolve one of Africa's most intractable conflicts.

Specific mandate

Under the terms of an agreement signed in Pretoria, about 700 South African troops are eventually expected to be deployed in Burundi.

They will be part of a force which has the specific mandate to protect Burundian politicians belonging to a transitional government, which is due to be formed on 1 November.

President Buyoya: Seized power in 1996

In this transitional government the current mainly Tutsi rulers will share power with leaders of the Hutu ethnic group, many of whom will be returning home from exile.

Mediators in the peace process agree that the transitional government is not being formed under ideal circumstances, with the two leading Hutu rebel groups refusing to take part.

South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela has led the peace efforts in Burundi.

But even a man of Mr Mandela's enormous stature has often struggled to heal the rift between Tutsi and Hutu rivals.

Transition

Burundian President Pierre Buyoya, a member of the minority Tutsi community, is to remain head of state for the first 18 months of a new three-year transitional government.

He will have a Hutu politician as his vice-president, before the roles are reversed half-way through the three-year term.

He launched a coup in 1996 which triggered fighting between his Tutsi-dominated army and Hutu rebels in which thousands of people on both sides have been killed.