Latest: EAC foreign affairs ministers head to Bujumbura

Rwanda’s foreign affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo today morning flew to Burundi’s capital Bujumbura to join her East African counterparts on a fact finding mission ordered by current EAC chair, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete. The foreign affairs ministry in Rwanda hasn’t issued a statement on the development but sourcesin the ministry told The New Times that the Ministers will spend the day in Bujumbura meeting various stakeholders involved in the country’s ongoing political scuffle. “What I can tell you is that they’ll spend the day in Bujumbura, who they’ll meet and what they’ll discuss, I can’t tell now but I am sure there will be a statement issued at the end of their mission,” said the foreign affairs ministry official who requested anonymity. Tanzania-based media has reported that the fact-finding mission led by Bernard Membe, Tanzania’s foreign affairs and international cooperation minister, was commissioned by President Jakaya Kikwete, the current chair of the EAC on Tuesday. The EAC is under pressure to do something to resolve Burundi’s crisis that erupted last month after the country’s ruling party endorsed President Pierre Nkurunziza for a third elective term in office. The ensuing protests have seen tens of thousands of civilians fleeing the country; over 23,000 people are now holed up in refugee camps in Rwanda. Early this week, the country’s constitutional court ruled that Nkurunziza has a right to a third term but opposition parties insist this is not in line with the Arusha agreement that ended the country’s long civil war in 2005. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has reportedly told President Museveni of Uganda to intervene in the crisis but analysts say he can’t do so outside the EAC framework. What the EAC does to intervene will now depend on what the four EAC foreign affairs ministers find out in Bujumbura.

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Latest: EAC foreign affairs ministers head to Bujumbura