East African Community Secretary General Dr Richard Sezibera. He and the Chairperson of the EAC council of ministers Dr Harrison Mwakyembe will also go to Burundi to assess the humanitarian situation in camps. PHOTO | FILE |
What you need to know:
The aim of the mission is to gather latest information that would inform the forthcoming EAC heads of states extra-ordinary summit.
More than 105,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, fearing political tensions will take on an ethnic hue and trigger an all-out conflict.
The East African Community (EAC) will this week deploy a fact-finding mission to assess the situation in Burundi, days after President Pierre Nkurunziza survived an attempted coup.
An emergency meeting of EAC council of ministers on Monday resolved to send the team that will among other things give feedback on whether the country is ready for an election next month and how strong the opposition to President Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term is.
In the three weeks of protests against his candidacy, nearly 20 people have been killed, a coup announced last Wednesday by a section of the military crashed and the leaders arrested. Coup leader General Godefroid Niyombare, however, remains on the run.
During a summit in Dar es salaam on the day the coup was announced, EAC leaders had asked President Nkurunziza to postpone the elections which are scheduled for late next month.
Mr Nkurunziza's quest for another five years in office, which the opposition says is unconstitutional but was endorsed by the courts, has plunged Burundi into its worst crisis since an ethnically charged civil war ended in 2005.
“The chairperson of the Council of Ministers and Secretary General will urgently visit Burundi to assess the situation on the ground,” reads one of three resolutions reached during the meeting.
The aim of the mission is to gather latest information that would inform the forthcoming EAC heads of states extra-ordinary summit, according to the EAC Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera.
Dr Sezibera could not specify when the next summit would take place but confirmed President Jakaya Kikwete will convene it in his capacity as the current EAC Chair.
Whereas the Chairperson of the EAC council of ministers Dr Harrison Mwakyembe and Dr Sezibera will go to Burundi, the ministers responsible for EAC affairs will visit refugees in Rwanda and Tanzania to assess the humanitarian situation in camps.
More than 105,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, fearing political tensions will take on an ethnic hue and trigger an all-out conflict.
The UN refugee agency’s representative in Tanzania Joyce Mendz-Cole says that there was an outbreak of cholera in the Nyarugusu camp where refugees have been flocking.
She added that there are 77 unconfirmed cases of cholera, 10 confirmed cases and 700 people suffering from various illnesses, most with watery diarrhoea, a symptom of cholera.
The emergency meeting also decided that the EAC and Comesa Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) would soon send a committee of elders to Bujumbura to consult with all players regarding the coming polls and report to the summit.
President Nkurunziza appointed Emmanuel Ntahomvukiye as minister for Defence in place of Potien Gaciyubwenge and Alain Aime Nyamitwe as Foreign Affairs minister, replacing Laurent Kavakure.
Irina Inantore was also appointed Trade minister, replacing Marie Nizigiyimana.
