{BURUNDI will be ready to hold talks with the Special Committee on Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution (RACR) under the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) over the ongoing crisis there after January 18.}
RACR Chairperson Abdullah Mwinyi said during the committee’s threshold meeting that the government of Burundi would be in better position to meet with them after January 18.
“We as members of the EALA committee on regional affairs and conflict resolution are deliberating on the petition filed by citizens of East African member states regarding the situation and atrocities occurring in Burundi.
And we’ll make recommendations to the House during the next sitting scheduled to commence on January 24, this year, at its chambers in Arusha,” said Mr Mwinyi.
He pointed out that the EALA committee had contacted the government of Burundi over the issue and the response was that, authorities in Bujumbura had their hands tied and that they will be free to attend the talks and related matters after next Monday.
EALA is thus working to schedule the meeting with Bujumbura officials, to take place in Arusha in the course of next week. Burundi citizens on the other hand are expected to testify during public hearings to be staged in Arusha from today up to next Saturday (January 16, 2016).
The public hearings set to review the petition by the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) submitted to EALA last November. On November 16, 2015, four Civil Society Organisations led by PALU petitioned EALA to urgently undertake specified number of actions within its mandate to contain the situation in the Republic of Burundi.
The petition was presented to the Speaker of EALA, Mr Daniel Kidega, in Arusha by PALU and the East African Civil Society Organisations’ Forum (EACSOF).
In addition to PALU (Principal Petitioner) and EACSOF, Atrocities Watch Africa, Centre for Citizens’ Participation on the African Union, East Africa Law Society (EALS) and the Kituo Cha Katiba (KcK) also appended their signatures to the petition.
In the petition, the civil society representatives urged EALA, inter alia, to call upon the Chair of the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the African Union (AU) to take concrete steps towards preventing Burundi from descending into genocide or mass atrocities.
Such measures the petition stated include, enhancing the numbers and capacity of the Human Rights Monitors and Military monitors deployed to the country.
They further called for the sanctions regime of the African Union to be activated. The petitioners also urged the House to make strong recommendations to the Summit of EAC Heads of State that the Republic of Burundi should not assume the rotating chairmanship of the EAC until it resolves the political, human rights and humanitarian crisis in the country.
The petition calls on EALA or a relevant committee within, to immediately hold a public hearing in Arusha that would welcome Burundian and East African citizens to testify to the happenings in the country and to suggest proposals for resolution to the crises.
The petition under discussion in Arusha stated that there were numerous reports of cases of assassinations, extra-judicial and arbitrary killings of over 130 persons (at time of presentation) and thus implored EALA to condemn what it terms arbitrary killings as well as the inordinate use of force by the police, security officials and members of a youth wing group, Imbonerakure.
Source:Daily News:[Burundi ready to hold peace talks after January 18->http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/home-news/45999-burundi-ready-to-hold-peace-talks-after-january-18]
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