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 The BBC's Cathy Jenkins"President Obasanjo clearly wanted to make an example of his own personal experience"  real 28k The BBC's Louise TunbridgeReports on continuing insecurity in Burundi real 28k |
President Obasanjo - who was elected to office last year after 15 years of almost continuous military rule in Nigeria - was speaking at the start of the latest round of talks aimed at finding a peaceful solution to Burundi's seven-year civil war.
It is a delusion that the military has quick-fix solutions to the human problems in society  |
Olusegun Obasanjo
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"And come the day the military have to leave power, as they invariably must, the society will begin from scratch to imbibe democracy," he added.
The summit, chaired by former South African President Nelson Mandela, is seeking an end to the fighting between Hutu rebels and the army, which is dominated by Burundi's Tutsi minority.
 Buyoya: "I think we will make progress"
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Also present at the summit are Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya, and Presidents Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Sam Nujoma of Nambia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Daniel arap Moi of Kenya.
But there are still no firm plans in place for the rebels to attend this latest round of talks.
The conflict in Burundi has claimed 200,000 lives, most of them civilian.
War
The 1993 assassination by Tutsis of the country's first democratically-elected president, Melchior Ndadaye - a Hutu - triggered the war.
On the eve of the talks, a sceptical President Buyoya said he did not expect a settlement to be reached for several months.
"The mediator wished for us to make additional progress on the main issues being debated, and I think we will make progress," he told Burundian Umwizero radio before leaving for Arusha.
"But we will not come to a peace accord - it is not possible."
Mr Buyoya did say, however, that he would work hard to achieve peace in the coming months and called for calm within his country.
Power monopoly
Mr Mandela's aide, Mark Bomani, has said the meeting will discuss the participation of two rebel groups, Forces for the Defence of Democracy and the National Liberation Front, in the peace talks.
Last week Mr Mandela met rebel representatives in South Africa, and secured a conditional commitment to taking part in the talks.
 Burundi army: Tutsi-dominated
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At the last round of talks Mr Mandela said that peace could not prevail in Burundi as long as the Tutsi minority kept a monopoly on political power.
His remarks drew an angry reaction from Tutsi politicians, many of whom fear that concessions to the Hutu majority would destablise the country.
Politics in Burundi are haunted by memories of neighbouring Rwanda, where resentment against Tutsis - the privileged class during colonial days - fuelled the 1994 genocide.
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