UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council welcomed the decision by last week's summit on Burundi to establish a forum of the country's partners.
The panel of 15 Thursday urged U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative, Carolyn McAskie, to hold consultations with the new government and its partners with a view to establishing the panel as soon as possible.
In a statement read out in the council by Ambassador Bayani Mercado of the Philippines, this months' council president, acknowledged the proposal as an international support mechanism for the nation emerging from years of ethnic strife.
In the report, Annan said that at the summit meeting, participants marking the installation of Burundi's new government agreed in principle to establish the mechanism as a "Forum of Partners" supporting efforts to consolidate peace and promote development. They also agreed that the forum's composition and mandate would be worked out in consultation with Burundi's government.
McAskie would chair the mechanism and would be supported by a small secretariat drawn from the existing U.N. Office in Burundi resources, it was decided by the summit, co-chaired by Annan and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in his capacity as Chairman of the Regional Peace Initiative for Burundi.
"The forum should work with the government of Burundi in consolidating peace and national reconciliation in Burundi, supporting reforms being undertaken by the government and in enhancing donor coordination and work in close coordination with the Peacebuilding Commission once it is operational," the Thursday statement said.
