Citation
DAR ES SALAAM, July 13 (AFP) - Tanzanian Foreign Minister Joseph Rwegasira leaves here on Wednesday for Rwanda for consultations with authorities in Kigali on a new date for the signing of a peace accord between the Rwandan government and Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebels.
Rwegasira told AFP here on Tuesday that it would not be possible for the pact to signed on Thursday as had been announced by the Rwandan government last weekend, due to a number of outstanding minor issues.
"But we are confident that the Rwandan government and the RPF rebels will sign the agreement within two weeks," Rwegasira said.
The agreement, concluded after 11 months of tortuous negotiations under Tanzanian mediation, was originally set to be signed on June 24 at the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, but was postponed at the last minute after Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana refused to attend the ceremony.
Habyarimana had objected to some provisions of the pact, especially the allocation of command positons in a proposed national army and the nomination of current prime minister Dismas Nsengiyaremye of the Democratic Republican Movement (MDR) as interim prime minister during the transition period, as had been agreed by the negotiators.
Rwegasira said he will also deliver a special message to Habyarimana from Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who is the official facilitator of the Rwanda peace process.
hb/lto/bm AFP AFP SEQN-0285
