Burundi crisis to have regional implications: Analyst
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire in Detroit, to discuss the recent violence in Burundi over the president’s controversial bid to run for a third consecutive time.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Looking at the situation right now in Burundi, it is getting extremely serious. However, would delaying or postponing the elections settle down the violence that we are seeing?
Azikiwe: It does not appear to be the case. Large segments of the population want President [Pierre] Nkurunziza to resign because he has served two terms. He indicates that he was appointed by parliament in 2005 as a compromise coalition government at the end of the civil war, which lasted for twelve years.
The CNDD-FDD party has been in control of the government since that time and this whole conflict, the reason why it is generating such massive media coverage is the regional implications of the conflict, the fact that Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo have been impacted to the migration of people leaving the Burundian capital and other areas to try to flee the fighting.
So it is a very serious situation. It has regional implications and there is effort on the way to try to resolve the conflict.
Press TV: But what kind of a resolution will work well for both Burundi and the region if President Nkurunziza withdraws his name from the race? Would that be a viable solution?
Azikiwe: In the short-term it will be. There are other problems in Burundi involving outstanding issues from the peace accord that was put into place some ten years ago.
That is why the African Union has made a statement that the president should not run again because they realized as well, there is a lot at stake in the region plus with neighboring Rwanda having a similar ethnic makeup as Burundi it could also portend much for the politics in Rwanda as well.
We have to keep in mind that a year before the Rwandan genocide we had a similar situation in Burundi which resulted in the assassination of the head of state as well as ensuing a twelve-year civil conflict that resulted in the deaths of over 300,000 people.
So this is something the African Union should clearly be concerned about and also the regional Central African organizations because it has extreme impact on the political economy of the region.
AHK/GHN
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