UN General Assembly
1997

The Burundi peace process will remain stalled, if Tanzania — the mediating country, the host country of the mediation — having taken over the Burundi Embassy in Dar es Salaam, continues to play the triple role of host country for the armed factions responsible for the genocide in Burundi, promoter of sanctions against Burundi and overweening mediator. The objection of the Government of the Republic of Burundi to the holding of the talks in Tanzania is thus easily understood. It is based essentially on the tension that has been created by the refugee camps that Tanzania has set up all along its border with Burundi. Many of them are armed, and from them deadly raids are regularly launched on Burundi territory. This tension has been exacerbated by the hostile campaign waged by the Tanzanian authorities in several African capitals precisely on the eve of the opening of the talks, originally set to take place in Arusha on 25 August 1997. Further, the Government of the Republic of Burundi does not understand why the fifth summit of the Heads of