African leaders meet in Tanzania on Burundi crisis

Sunday, 31 May 2015 3:32 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 31 May 2015 3:32 PM ]

From left: Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and South African Deputy Prime Minister Cyril Ramaphosa at a crisis summit in Dar es Salaam on violence in Burundi on May 13, 2015. (AFP photo)

East African leaders and officials have met in Tanzania for a meeting aimed at finding a solution to the current crisis in Burundi.

Tanzanian presidential spokesman, Salva Rweyemamu, said the summit kicked off in the city of Dar es Salaam on Sunday.

"Heads of state and heads of delegations are now consulting, and they have started," Rweyemamu said.

According to reports, the summit was organized by members of the East African Community (EAC), namely Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi.

However, a Burundian presidential spokesman said that the country’s president, Pierre Nkurunziza, would not be attending the summit and that he would be represented by Foreign Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe.

He added that the Burundian president was busy with a controversial election campaign for a third term as president.

The AFP photo shows Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza waving from his car, flanked by security forces, while leaving an electoral rally outside Bujumbura on May 23, 2015.

A source close to the talks in Dar es Salaam said the African leaders were “hesitant” to demand Nkurunziza withdraw his candidacy and “instead we're looking at a call to delay the polls, and for Nkurunziza to give the opposition and independent media an opportunity to freely express themselves."

This is the second meeting on the crisis in Burundi, which erupted after Nkurunziza announced his plans to stand for a third term in late April.

Former intelligence chief Major General Godefroid Niyombare launched a failed coup attempt when Nkurunziza was away attending a summit meeting on May 13.

At least 30 people have lost their lives in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters in Burundi.

Opponents of the president say his re-election runs against the country’s constitution and the Arusha Agreements, which brought about the end of a deadly 12-year civil war back in 1993.

The photo taken on May 19, 2015 shows protesters holding a banner reading "We say No to the 3rd term and to the violence on protesters" during a march from Kananira to Bujumbura. ©AFP

Nkurunziza argues his re-election bid is lawful as he did not rise to power through direct vote following the civil war. He has been Burundi’s president for two legal five-year terms.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a humanitarian crisis in Tanzania, which is facing an influx of Burundians escaping political unrest in their country.

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