THE Chair of the East African Heads of State, President Jakaya Kikwete, has assigned four foreign ministers from member states, including Tanzania, to go to Burundi to study the political situation that has created instability there.
He has pointed out, however, that the solution to the political situation in Burundi banks on the citizen’s willingness to respect their national constitution and electoral laws whereas the regional community’s mandate is to ensure that the country handles its challenges and achieve fair elections.
President Kikwete announced the decision to dispatch the four ministers to the crisis-prone nation here on Monday evening at a meeting with the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Ban Kimoon, who wanted to know the situation in Burundi. Mr Kikwete said the foreign ministers who have been dispatched to Burundi to oversee how best the conflict can be settled are from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
“I have tasked them to ensure that they meet all key parties in the conflict and complete a report, which must include recommendations on how best the matter can be solved”, the president said.
The team is supposed to finish up the assignment by the end of this week so that East Africa Heads of State can convene to discuss how best to handle the situation in Burundi.
“If there are people in Burundi who believe that the decision by President Pierre Nkurunziza to seek re-election is against the country’s constitution, then they should forward their complaints to the law organs so that the rules and regulations can take their course and the truth known instead of inciting chaos,” he said.
He told the UN chief that the Burundi foreign minister was in Tanzania over the weekend where he met with his counterparts there to discuss the situation in the central African country.
Burundi has been plunged into chaos and demonstrations against President Nkurunziza’s move to seek a third term, which some people believe is a violation of the constitution in addition to endangering the peace deal that ended the civil war in that country since 2005.
Meanwhile, President Jakaya Kikwete has held talks with Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, who is here to attend the UN meeting.
Their discussions were based on how best to cement the bilateral relationship between the two countries. President Kikwete has been appointed to lead a delegation of famous people in the world who are meeting to discuss how best to handle diseases outbreak in future following lessons learned from Ebola diseases whereas hundreds of people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone lost their lives.
The UN secretary general commended President Kikwete for being appointed to chair the committee, saying the world body banked much hope on it, whose other members are Celso Amorim of Brazil, Micheline Calmy- Rey from Switzerland, Marty Natalegwa (Indonesia), Joy Phumaphi (Botswana) and Rajiv Shah from the United States.
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