The new ICGLR Executive Secretary strongly believes Africans can solve their problems once united. Foreign partnership should be limited. Applying this view to Burundi, he will favour cooperation with the government to help end the ongoing crisis.
Amb. Zachary Muburi-Muita at a press conference in the ICGLR secretariat in Bujumbura
“I am a strong believer in African solutions to African problems”, said Ambassador Zachary Muburi˗Muita this Tuesday at his first press conference since he was appointed Executive Secretary of the ICGLR (International Conference on the Great Lakes Region) last June. He believes that Africans in general and the ICGRL members in particular, are able to straighten out their own affairs. “I am sure once we put our heads together, i.e. all the member states, we should be able to have positive results”.
No room for foreign meddlers. Ambassador Muita acknowledges the need for partnership with other non˗African countries and organisations. However, that partnership should be limited: “We can ask for assistance, but we don’t want you to come to meddle in our affairs”. The kind of partnership he advocates is the partnership that recognizes that the main actors are Africans themselves. In his point of view, foreign support should build on African initiatives and plans: “You support me with my idea of what I want to do. Partnership yes, but not replacement”. He deplores the fact that the UNSC always debates African issues without any African representative.
“I will be a strong proponent of unity at both sub regional and continental levels”, he said. For him, unity is the most important factor to help Africans find solutions to their problems and keep interferers at bay. “We will continue working with our [foreign] friends, but what we need first and foremost is solidarity between the Great Lakes region countries and the African continent”. Solidarity is necessary for Africans mainly because of weak economies. The fragmentation of African countries makes it easier for foreign meddlers to divide Africans. Only in solidarity will Africans be strong against any foreign divisive force.
On the premise that Africans are the main actors in solving their challenges, the current executive secretariat will favour cooperation with Burundi government. “We are a governmental organisation. Our number one priority will be working with the government. That’s the starting point”, said the Ambassador. As Burundi’s best friends, they will be “as honest as possible” and will be actively engaged in helping end the current crisis. Moreover, they will advise senior organs of the ICGLR on the situation in Burundi and urge them to actively be seized of the matter.
Ambassador Zachary Muburi-Muita, a Kenyan, has occupied a number of diplomatic positions among others, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to the African Union, Ambassador of Kenya to the UN, and recently the Director Office of the Great Lakes Region in Nairobi. He was elected last June in Angola to replace the Congolese Pr Ntumba Luaba as the head of the executive secretariat of the ICGLR in Bujumbura. His predecessor, who left Burundi before the end of his term, had attempted to relocate the secretariat to Zambia because of security reasons. “My staff and myself no longer feel safe in Bujumbura”, he explained. As for the new secretary, he is optimistic: “I hope myself will not have to leave too early”.
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