UN mission in Burundi congratulates people on 'maturity' of referendum vote

With provisional figures showing that 90 per cent of Burundi's electorate voted in a constitutional referendum early this week, the United Nations mission trying to help the country recover from decades of ethnic strife and civil war today congratulated its people on their exemplary maturity.

The UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB), set up last May to help cement a multi-party, power-sharing government and pave the way to peace in the tiny Central African nation torn asunder by conflicts between Hutus and Tutsis, provided technical and logistical aid to the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) in holding the vote.

"The people of Burundi are to be congratulated for the degree of maturity with which they voted in exemplary fashion – those who voted yes and those who voted no, for that is democracy," Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Deputy Special Representative Nureldin Satti told a news briefing today in Bujumbura, the capital.

CENI said some 90 per cent of the country's 3 million registered electorate voted with more than 90 per cent casting a "yes" ballot, while about 8 per cent voted "no."

Mr. Satti said he was optimistic that Burundi has the ability to organize the next several steps in the electoral calendar, leading up to legislative and presidential elections.

ONUB helped CENI transport nearly 130 tons of voting material by air and land for the referendum and contributed to civic education and to posting some 100 electoral experts throughout the country. It also sent 45 verification teams totalling some 300 people to the 17 provinces on voting day, which was 28 February.

These teams noted that the ballot conformed to international standards and that there were no incidents marring the credibility of the process.