Addis Ababa, May 19(ENA)--The African Mission in Burundi (AMIB), deployed by the African Union (AU) to monitor the country's transition to democracy, has opened a second center for demobilization, improving its ability to reintegrate fighters from rebel groups, Irin said citing the mission's report.

The Ethiopian contingent of AMIB began setting up the center on Friday in the central province of Gitega and the contingent is due to remain at the site in coming months to provide security, IRIN said.

The demobilizatin centers are intended to "facilitate and provide technical assistance for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process", IRIN quoted AMIB as saying.

The first demobilization center in the northwestern province of Bubanza was opened on a trial basis in June 2003, it said.

One of AMIB's mandated tasks is to ensure favorable conditions for the establishment of a UN peacekeeping mission in the country, it said. In February, a UN evaluation team announced that it favored converting AMIB into a UN peacekeeping mission.

There are close to 3,000 AMIB troops in Burundi, drawn from Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa.

Burundi is currently in the second phase of a three-year transitional period, brokered under a peace and reconciliation accord signed in August 2000 in Arusha, Tanzania. Elections are due to be held by November.