Chairman of the East African Council of Ministers Harrison Mwakyembe (left) confers with council member Shem Bageine of Uganda (second left), Tanzania’s Deputy Minister for East Africa Cooperation Abdallah Sadalla (second right) and East African Community Secretary-General Richard Sezibera during a meeting on the Burundi crisis yesterday
The Burundi elections may not be postponed as directed by the emergency East African Community Heads of State held in Dar es Salaam last week.
Instead, the EAC will dispatch an observer mission to the parliamentary and presidential elections slated for May 26 and June 26, respectively, as initially planned, according to a senior Tanzanian government official.
The change of heart apparently follows what has been perceived as a stabilizing of situation in Burundi, where renegade soldiers attempted to oust President Pierre Nkurunziza last Wednesday after weeks of violent clashes between police and protesters.
“There is no way the EAC can avoid supporting the government of Pierre Nkurunziza for now. The situation has somehow stabilized unlike before the attempted coup,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter.
The official, who spoke on the sidelines of an emergency meeting of member states’ East African cooperation ministers at the EAC headquarters, said the partner states were relieved that peace was returning to Burundi in the wake of violence that left about 20 people dead. However, he did not say whether the EAC had accepted President Nkurunziza’s controversial bid for a third term, which sparked the crisis.
It was resolved during last week’s summit that Burundi was not ready for free and fair elections given the fluid situation in Burundi following weeks of violent demonstrations.
The leaders from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda called upon the authorities in Bujumbura to postpone the elections for a period not beyond the mandate of the current government of President Nkurunziza.
Summit chairman President Jakaya Kikwete hosted the meeting at State House, Dar es Salaam, and other leaders in attendance were presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya.
President Nkurunziza, was in Dar es Salaam, but did not attend the meeting following reports of an attempted coup against him.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, told reporters in Dar es Salaam at the weekend that the security situation in Burundi was too fragile for elections to be held.
He indicated that the EAC was about to propose that the eagerly-awaited elections be postponed to July this year “when the dust would have settled”, but not after August when Mr Nkurunziza’s term will come to an end.
Yesterday’s emergency meeting in Arusha, chaired by East Africa Cooperation minister Harrison Mwakyembe, discussed the Burundi crisis within the context of last Friday’s meeting of attorneys general from the five partner states Journalists were barred from attending the meeting which ended around mid-day and instead were promised to be briefed on the outcome. It was not until 5 pm when the EAC Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera emerged for a briefing.
He said the EAC and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) would send a committee of elders to Bujumbura to consult with all players on the coming polls.
He added that the Council of Ministers chairperson (Dr Mwakyembe) and Secretary General (himself) would urgently visit Burundi “to assess the situation on the ground”.
Dr Sezibera said another meeting of the EAC Heads of State would take place in Dar es Salaam in the near future to discuss the Burundi crisis after the one that was to be held last week was called off after reports filtered in that President Nkurunziza had been ousted.
Meanwhile, protests continued in Burundi yesterday despite President Nkurunziza’s order for an immediate stop to the demonstrations against his third term bid.
The President, who survived a coup attempt last week, has claimed that the demonstrators were collaborators of the coup plotters.
“It is clear that all the protesters closely collaborated with the putschists and the rebels who attacked the country last year in Cibitoke Province,” said the President.
Former Defence minister and one of the coup leaders Cyrille Ndayirukiye claimed Defence minister Potien Gaciyubwenge and army chief Prime Niyongabo were all behind the failed coup.
Early yesterday, soldiers were deployed around the capital Bujumbura to stop the protests and clear the barricades erected on the main streets.
“’We won’t stop protesting until President Nkurunziza steps down, but what we are witnessing on the ground is scary,” said an activist who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons.
The activist said the country was at a great risk because of the apparent division in the military.
