Mandela urges 'girl power' peace plan

Mandela says money and patience are running out

By East Africa correspondent Cathy Jenkins

Former South African President Nelson Mandela has urged the women of Burundi to play a more active role in the country's peace process.

He has suggested they try to influence their husbands into approving a peace deal by threatening to withhold certain services unless they do.

Mr Mandela said the women should tell their husbands that they would neither speak to them nor cook for them if they did not make peace.

He was speaking after meeting a women's delegation in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, where political parties and rebel groups have been holding talks to try to end the country's brutal civil war.

Mr Mandela may have added a lighter moment to proceedings with his comments, but the suggestion conveyed a serious message.

President Buyoya has raised objections to a draft peace accord

He has worked for months to broker a peace deal to end Burundi's devastating civil war, and he wants the warring parties to sign the agreement on 28 August.

On countless occasions, the former South African president has warned that both international patience and money for the peace process are running out, and that it is time for the leaders to stop what he has called the senseless slaughter of civilians.

The seven-year-old civil war, which has claimed some 200,000 lives, has pitted the Tutsi-dominated army against Hutu rebels.

Objections

The Hutus form a majority of the population in Burundi, but the minority Tutsis have traditionally dominated the army and the administration.

At the latest round of peace talks, Mr Mandela circulated a draft peace agreement, which would require the Tutsis to hand over power to a democratically-elected government in three years' time.

But objections to the draft accord have come from all sides.