Don't let Burundians down

Editor, Refer to Lonzen Rugira’s article, “Burundi: Saved by the Coup, again?” (The New Times, June 1).The EAC summit on Burundi held recently in Tanzania was, I should say, a complete disappointment for Burundians and friends of Burundi. Arusha, until now a symbol of hope and reconciliation for the people of Burundi, suddenly became the symbol of indifference and sadism towards a population crying for assistance. Why do people not learn from history? One wonders how our leaders waste their time travelling to Tanzania to just recommend postponement of elections and disarmament of militia without indicating who will disarm them and how. As far as the postponement of elections is concerned, their resolution is anything but creative. Elections were already headed for postponement with the electoral commission now incomplete after two of the commissioners fled the country. For the disarmament, President Nkurunziza Pierre will never disarm them. He invested so much on them, including in military drills in DR Congo, because he thought they could help him impose terror on his people. Burundians responded to the EAC heads of state by pledging to continue staging peaceful protests as early as two days after the summit ended until they restored their dignity. The current crisis has at least shown that no one will ever again manipulate the population along ethnic divide for political gains as was the case in the past. Seeing people from Buterere, Kinama and Kanyosha joining hands with compatriots from Cibitoke, Musaga and Ngagara—for those who know Bujumbura—should be an eye opener to each and every Burundian and friends of Burundi on how much progress has been done on the political front. Let us, for once, not look elsewhere but from within the region for a solution for Burundi crisis. Bela ************************** Some people are better at some things than at others. All-round excellence is a very rare thing. Team Nkurunziza is peerless at staying in power; they have no clue on how to go about bettering the general welfare of the Burundians, and so they do what they can redistributing what little there is to them. Meantime, the Summit of the East African Community, plus South Africa, plus Angola, has just illustrated what the French mean with the saying, “La montagne a accouché une souris! (Literally, the mountain has given birth to a mouse!”) We shall all soon be wringing our hands wondering where and how this crisis will lead our brothers and sisters on the northwestern shores of Lake Tanganyika, even as we do our best to avert our eyes from the human tragedies caused by human folly that we believe we can do very little to affect the outcome. Poor Burundians! Like Rwandans during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Burundians have just learnt they are wholly on their own with their constitutional problem. Mwene Kalinda

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Don't let Burundians down