Burundi president recommends EAC summit focusing only on Burundi and Rwandan conflict

Burundi president Pierre Nkurunziza sent on 4 December to his counterpart president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Ugandan president and also facilitator in Burundi conflict a letter asking him to convene an extraordinary EAC Heads of State summit whose agenda will be to settle the conflict between Burundi and Rwanda. President Nkurunziza shows that all the problems Burundi is experiencing are caused by Rwandan government. “It is therefore very urgent for EAC to focus on the real problem that is jeopardizing peace and security in Burundi. It is Rwanda, a state party to the EAC treaty. It is not the first time that Rwanda attempts to destabilize Burundi,” reads the letter.

Burundi president Pierre Nkurunziza “It is therefore very urgent for EAC to focus on the real problem that is jeopardizing peace and security in Burundi.”

President Nkurunziza accuses Rwanda of providing military training to Burundian refugees living in Mahama camp. “Burundi and other observers have shown that young Burundians including children were recruited from Mahama refugee camp as criminal gang units and death squads with the purpose of destabilizing Burundi,” he said.

According to president Nkurunziza, Rwanda is the main destabilizers of Burundi institutions. “I no longer consider it as a partner state, rather as the enemy of Burundi,” he says. He explained that Rwanda was involved in the coup d’état of 2015 against him arguing that the fact that the coup plotters of 2015 failed coup are based in Rwanda show that it supports them. He regrets that EAC ignores the aggression of Burundi by Rwanda.

Burundi Government was not represented at the EAC Heads of States summit organized on 30 November in which they would analyze Burundi situation. Burundi president explained that he was invited late and so requested to postpone it.

The summit was convened after William Mkapa, facilitator in Burundi conflict presented the final report of the inter-Burundian dialogue to Kaguta Yoweri Museveni, the mediator in Burundi crisis and also President in Office of EAC.