Burundi: EAC leaders call for disarmament of Imbonerakure militia

Leaders of the East African Community (EAC) have called for the immediate disarmament of Imbonerakure, a paramilitary youth group allied to Burundi’s ruling party, CNDD/FDD. This is one of the resolutions from the third emergency EAC Heads of State summit on the situation in Burundi in two months, held on Monday, in the Tanzanian commercial capital Dar-es-Salaam. “The government of Burundi should disarm Imbonerakure and other armed youth groups allied to political parties,” a communiqué from the EAC Secretariat reads in part. Many Burundian refugees have cited intimidation and attacks from the Imbonerakure as the main reason for their flight, while human rights groups have also accused the government-backed militia of committing abuses. Over 140,000 Burundians have fled across the border to neighbouring countries over the last two months, with nearly 50,000 of them fleeing to Rwanda. Tanzanian President and current EAC chair Jakaya Kikwete and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni as well as Cabinet ministers from the five-nation bloc attended the latest talks. Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza skipped yesterday’s summit and instead went on a campaign trail as he continues to push ahead with his plans for a third consecutive five-year term in office, a controversial issue that has plunged the east African nation into deadly unrest. He was represented by the Minister for External Relations and International Cooperation, Alain Nyamitwe. At the talks, President Paul Kagame, who was attending a major global summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Oslo, Norway, was represented by EAC Affairs minister Valentine Rugwabiza, while his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta delegated his Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mahammed. Meanwhile, the summit appointed President Museveni as the new facilitator of the Burundi warring parties following a stalemate in talks between the government and the opposition after the parties questioned the impartiality of UN mediators. The EAC leaders resolved that the July 15 Burundi presidential elections be delayed for two weeks, until July 15, to allow the dialogue facilitator enough time to mediate between the parties, according to the statement. The regional leaders further directed that whoever wins the presidential elections should set up a government of national unity, bringing together those who participated in the elections and those who did not as well as special interest groups. In a related development, Gen Leonard Ngendakumana, one of the Burundi military leaders behind a botched coup in May, has warned of a sustained violent campaign against Nkurunziza with view to force the President to abandon his bid. He claimed responsibility for a spate of fatal grenade attacks in the country. “After we saw that we could not succeed, it was necessary to keep fighting to force Nkurunziza to resign and drop the third term bid, but when we saw that he is not going to resign we organised ourselves to keep fighting him, and that’s why these actions (grenade attacks) have been going on,” he told a Kenyan television over the weekend.

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Burundi: EAC leaders call for disarmament of Imbonerakure militia