Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya on Sunday said the country could solve the transition problem in two phases if the signatories of the of the peace agreement so desired, Burundi radio quoted him as telling journalists in Bujumbura. President Buyoya had just returned from Pretoria, South Africa where he held talks with the mediator of the Burundi peace process, Nelson Mandela and the country's President Thabo Mbeki.

A wave of fighting between the Burundian army and rebel forces has caused "massive temporary displacement" although most of the victims tend to move back to their homes "when calm returns", humanitarian sources told IRIN on Thursday. The recent wave of fighting started on 24 February in Bujumbura-Mairie and resulted in the temporary displacement of 54,000 people, the sources said.

Twenty members of the Tutsi Parena party in Burundi have been arrested after they visited their colleagues in prison. The group were detained when they went to give food and other supplies to two senior Parena party officials who had been arrested in connection with an attempted coup in Burundi earlier this month.

Welcoming the end to yesterday's aborted coup attempt in Burundi, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said the incident served to highlight the need for efforts to bring calm to the country.