The latest round of negotiations between the United Nations and the Burundian government to implement a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and a Special Court ended with an acknowledgement of failure [IJT-56]. The March 5-10 discussions in Bujumbura were supposed to accomplish the objective laid out beforehand by the Burundian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation: common agreement on all essential issues, including the nature of the public consultation, the scope of amnesty and the relationship between the TRC and Special Court. On the first point, there seemed to be consensus, but no document was finalized. As for the rest, each party continued to cling to its positions. The UN experts suggested a two-stage approach: create the TRC first and then, with the approval of the United Nations Security Council, negotiate the functions of the Special Court. The UN takes the position that, "being a legal body, the Special Court should not be bound by the decisions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission regarding the qualification of certain offenses or the responsibility of certain defendants." The UN further states that "any amnesty awarded [by the TRC] to anyone for one of the offenses will not hinder the [Special Court's] proceedings". The Burundian government, however, is hesitant to recognize the independence of the proposed court and its prosecutor vis-à-vis the TRC. Rather, it wants to limit the court's jurisdiction to cases referred by the TRC. As the TRC staff will be mostly Burundian, there is concern that the government will be able to control legal referrals to the Special Court, thus circumventing the principle that there should be no amnesty for war crimes and crimes against humanity.