A regional summit designed to support Burundi's peace process has ended without accord on the composition of a security force vital to the establishment of a transitional government.
Former South African President Mr Nelson Mandela met African leaders and representatives of Burundi's political parties in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha to push forward efforts to end a civil war in the tiny central African state.
But they failed to resolve an impasse over the composition of a planned internal security force, which aims to ensure the safety of members of a transitional government due to be installed in Burundi on November 1st.
Burundi's government, dominated by the minority Tutsi community, and opposition parties from the Hutu majority disagree on whether to include Hutu rebels in the multi-ethnic security force.
Mr Mandela, who is chief mediator of Burundi's peace process, announced in July that Burundi's political parties had agreed to set up a transitional government to prepare the ground for democratic elections three years later.
The United Nations Security Council has praised the planned shift, saying it will be crucial to end one of Africa's most brutal civil wars, which has cost an estimated 200,000 lives since 1993.
In a brief statement, Mr Mandela said regional leaders had urged the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo not to support the main Burundian Hutu rebel groups, FDD and FNL, which have bases in the Congo.
The one-day summit was attended by Tanzanian President Mr Benjamin Mkapa, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Kenyan President Mr Daniel arap Moi, Gabon's President Mr Omar Bongo, South African Deputy President Mr Jacob Zuma and foreign ministers of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Ghana.
The summit was intended to be the last before President Pierre Buyoya is installed as the first head of the tiny central African country's transitional government, but another meeting has now been scheduled for Pretoria, South Africa on October 11th.