African states to impose sanctions on Burundi

A GROUP of African leaders agreed yesterday to impose full economic sanctions on Burundi after a Tutsi military coup and called…

A GROUP of African leaders agreed yesterday to impose full economic sanctions on Burundi after a Tutsi military coup and called for international support.

They also demanded immediate talks between all parties inside and outside Burundi but apparently took no action on a report presented by military planners for military intervention.

"The summit has decided to impose economic sanctions on Burundi and appeals to the international community to support these measures, the leaders said in a statement after more than five hours of talks in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha.

"This is a total economic blockade on Burundi. It was a unanimous decision. There was not a single dissenting voice," President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania said.

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"I have no doubt that these sanctions will work."

Mr Mkapa said sanctions were fully backed by the international community. To be effective, the will need to be formally by the Organisation of Unity (OAU) and the regional analysts noted.

Mr Mkapa said a technical committee would spell out details on when the sanctions would start and how long they would last.

Burundi's Tutsi dominated military ousted Hutu President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya last week and installed Maj Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, as ruler on July 25th.

Landlocked Burundi, its economy already hard hit by civil war and the suspension of international aid, relies on coffee and tea exports by road through neighbouring Rwanda and Tanzania. It imports all its petrol and diesel.

Burundi also borders Zaire. It was unclear if the sanctions would cover food imports by aid agencies to feed some 68,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees.

The UN World Food Programme is sending a total of 43,000 tonnes of food to Burundi this year.

Some 150,000 people have died in three years of war and massacres in Burundi between Hutus, who are 85 per cent of the population, and Tutsis, who control the military and state apparatus.

"If the sanctions do not work then we will sit down very soon, preview the situation and apply tougher measures," the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr Meles Zenawi, said following the talks.

The decision was taken by the presidents of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, the prime ministers of Ethiopia and Zaire and the foreign minister of Cameroon, the current OAU chairman.

The OAU Secretary General, Mr Salim Ahmed Salim, and Mr Julius Nyerere, the internationally backed mediator on Burundi, also attended.