NKURUNZIZA APPEARS IN PUBLIC AS EA MEETS OVER BURUNDI PEACE

Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza made his first public appearance in the capital Bujumbura on Sunday as East African Council of Ministers is set to meet again today in Arusha to discuss latest developments in that country.

The meeting by EAC Foreign Affairs Ministers follows attempted overthrow of the Bujumbura government last week and a wave of violence protesting the move by President Nkurunziza to stand for re-election in June, this year.

Over 20 people have been reported dead and over 100,000 fleeing to neighbouring countries to seek asylum since violence broke out on April 26, this year.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of East African Cooperation, Ms Joyce Mapunjo, told the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the ministers are expected to receive a report from a team of lawyers who have been working on the issue.

“The meeting by the Council of Ministers is as well meant to set ground for another meeting of EAC Heads of State. It was agreed during the meeting of the latter in Dar es Salaam last week that they should meet within a fortnight,” Ms Mapunjo said in a telephone interview from Arusha.

Heads of State of EAC member states namely Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda last Wednesday condemned the coup attempt staged the same day in Burundi and demanded the postponement of the country’s presidential elections, which are slated for June. Burundi was scheduled to hold legislative elections this month and the presidential poll in June.

Nkurunziza came under pressure after the ruling CNDDFDD chose him to represent the party in the presidential vote. Critics said the move would be unconstitutional, and there have been almost daily protests since Nkurunziza’s announcement, stirring memories of an ethnically-driven civil war that ended a decade ago.

During a news conference in Bujumbura yesterday, President Nkurunziza, who has not been seen in the capital for days, did not address the crisis in his country but said he was “very preoccupied” by the threat posed by the al Qaeda-linked militant group, al Shabaab.

Burundi is one of the countries that contribute forces to an African Union peacekeeping mission battling al Shabaab in Somalia. In recent years, the group has attacked Kenya and Uganda, which also contribute troops.

Late last week, Tanzania’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, was quoted as stating that the Council of EAC Ministers will take over from where the leaders’ summit ended concerning Burundi’s political crisis.

Burundi took 18 people suspected of involvement in a failed coup against President Nkurunziza to the high court on Saturday, relatives of some of the accused said. Opponents said the bid contravened the constitution, which states a president can only be elected to two terms.

The president argued that he was entitled to a third term because he was first appointed to the role by parliament in 2005, rather than elected.

Daily News