The 12-member UN Security Council mission which visited the Great Lakes region earlier this month said it was struck by the "complexity and intractability" of the situation in Burundi and its serious potential for large-scale violence. In a report on its mission from 15-26 May, the Security Council team detailed the discussions it had with the various sides in the Burundi conflict, stressing that it delivered a very strong message to all the players - namely that there could be no military solution to the conflict and peace should be found within the framework of the Arusha peace agreement, signed last August.

The group of eight pro-Tutsi parties supporting Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi as transitional president have issued a statement condemning the "unacceptable manipulation by the government and its associates aimed at avoiding the implementation of the Arusha agreement", the private Burundi news agency NetPress reported. It said the parties believed that a recent meeting brokered by the Italian San Egidio religious community which brought together the CNDD faction of Leonard Nyangoma, the hardline Tutsi PARENA party, the government, and ruling party UPRONA, as well as the recent visit to South Africa by President Pierre Buyoya were attempts to "exclude Bayaganakandi".