BURUNDI WELCOMES SWISS PRESIDENT

UNCLAS BUJUMBURA 000544 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR AF/C E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL SZ BY SUBJECT: BURUNDI WELCOMES SWISS PRESIDENT 1.(U) The President of the Swiss Confederation, Madame Micheline Calmy-Rey, visited Burundi July 17 to view her country's contributions to the peace and reconciliation process in Burundi, and to assess its progress. Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza and representatives of the Diplomatic Corps welcomed President Calmy-Rey at the airport at the beginning of her twenty-four hour visit. ¶2. (SBU) In a conversation after Ms. Calmy-Rey's visit, the Swiss Confederation Representative in Burundi, Marc George, told PolOff that President Nkurunziza addressed the issue of more direct Swiss investment in Burundi. Mr. George said that President Calmy-Rey stressed that before such investment could mature, Burundi must develop a stronger legal infrastructure that would provide adequate protection for such investment. He said that President Nkurunziza responded favorably to President Calmy-Rey's point, and assured her that Burundi was addressing this problem. ¶3. (U) Following her meeting with President Nkurunziza, Ms. Calmy-Rey met local representatives for the High Commission for Human Rights, Global Rights, and Search for Common Ground. President Calmy-Rey discussed mechanisms for advancing transitional justice in a post-conflict Burundi, judicial reform, and land dispute resolution. Calmy-Rey underlined the importance of what she called the trilogy of truth, justice, and reconciliation as prerequisites for a lasting peace, and again focused on the necessity of judicial system reform in Burundi. ¶4. (U) Burundi was the Swiss president's next to last stop on a nine-country tour of the region. She departed Burundi on July 18 for Rwanda. MOLLER