African leaders to hold summit on Burundi

East African leaders will meet on Sunday at a special summit to discuss the crisis in Burundi

African leaders to hold summit on Burundi

World Bulletin / News Desk 

East African leaders will meet in Tanzania next Sunday to discuss Burundi's ongoing political crisis.

"All East African Community (EAC) heads of state are expected to attend the summit," Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe told on Tuesday.

The meeting will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's business capital.

"Among other things, the summit will review its last meeting and look at how to best resolve the escalating crisis in Burundi," said Membe.

The leaders of EAC member states Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda met earlier this month in in Dar es Salaam to discuss Burundi's simmering political situation.

They condemned a coup attempt staged the same day in Burundi and demanded that the country's polls be postponed.

"The summit will also look into how to help refugees from Burundi who are in refugee camps in Tanzania, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," Minister Membe told.

According to Membe, over 100,000 Burundians are currently staying at refugee camps in Tanzania, Rwanda and the DRC.

He said the summit would be preceded by a meeting of EAC foreign ministers and ministers for EAC affairs.

"EAC affairs ministers went to Burundi recently and met President Nkurunziza and all 42 opposition leaders and realized that the situation in Burundi was still tense," said Membe.

Last week, EAC Council of Ministers Chairperson Harrison Mwakyembe and EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera told that they were travelling to Burundi to assess the situation in advance of the leaders' summit.

The council, which met earlier at the EAC's Arusha headquarters, also sent a special team to refugee camps in Tanzania, Rwanda and the DRC to assess the situation before reporting to the summit

Güncelleme Tarihi: 26 Mayıs 2015, 17:38
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