The release of detainees suspected to be members of the Palipehutu-Forces for National Liberation (FNL), Burundi's last rebel group, would remove a major impediment to the ceasefire between the group and the government, sources said.

After a spirited appeal, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, considered poorer than Kenya, will have some protection from trade imbalances, as the region prepares for a free movement of goods, services and labour come 2010.

Prosecution has expressed discontent over recent comments by former Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye on the ongoing efforts to prosecute Burundian nationals who participated in the 1994 Genocide.

UGANDA's top junior tennis player Duncan Mugabe has arrived in the country ahead of the $30,000 (sh49.6m) ITF/Futures circuit that gets underway in Burundi next week.

After a spirited appeal, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, considered poorer than Kenya, will have some protection from trade imbalances, as the region prepares for a free movement of goods, services and labour come 2010.

The delay in resolving issues of disarmament and how to integrate Burundi's former rebels into state institutions and security forces is threatening the ceasefire.

Burundi's political situation is apparently calm and improving.

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and head of MONUC, Alan Doss, and the European Union's Special Representative to the Great Lakes Region, Roland Van de Geer, have both admitted to facing serious difficulties in implementing the Nairobi Accord regarding the disarming of rebels of Forces Democratiques de la Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR).

Parts of eastern and southern Burundi are threatened with acute food shortages following low agricultural yields compounded by an influx of returning refugees, an official of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said.

There had been several positive developments in Burundi, including the cessation of hostilities, but the peace process still faced significant challenges requiring a national willingness for compromise, and regional and international support that was coordinated and robust, the Security Council was told this morning.

The following Security Council press statement on Burundi was read out today by Council President Jan Grauls (Belgium):

The Security Council today welcomed the recent agreement by Government forces and rebels in Burundi to try to dismantle any roadblocks to the revised ceasefire agreement they signed in June.

President Paul Kagame returned from a three-day State visit to Burundi on Saturday.

The First Lady of Rwanda, Mrs Jeannette Kagame on Friday, 22 August, met with her Burundian counterpart, First Lady Denise Nkurunziza.

President Paul Kagame who is currently in neighbouring Burundi on a State visit, Friday called for stronger economic ties with Burundi.

President Kagame's trip to Burundi has opened a new chapter in relations between both countries. For the every first time since both countries got their independence from Belgium in 1962, relations between both countries have gone beyond rhetoric and are now based on shared values and needs.

President Paul Kagame Thursday began a three-day official visit to Burundi. On his arrival at Akanyaru border post, Kagame was met by the president of the Burundi Senate, Pio Ntavyohanyuma and other government officials.

Burundi’s political crisis is not solved and may yet jeopardise the country’s future stability.

Although he looks frail, Cossan Ntabwigwa, in his late 60s, is a determined man. He recently returned from Tanzania, where he had been a refugee since 1972, and is seeking to resettle on a piece of land he left years ago.

Despite progress in implementing a peace agreement with the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People - National Forces of Liberation (Palipehutu-FNL), the last active rebel movement, Burundi is going through a dangerous political crisis which could compromise the holding of free and fair elections in 2010 and the country’s future stability.