Civil Society Petitions EALA to Block Burundi from Assuming the EAC Chairmanship
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Civil Society Petitions EALA to Block Burundi from Assuming the EAC Chairmanship
By EADM Correspondent
Arusha, Tanzania.
In Summary: Alarmed by the possibility that embattled Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza may assume the rotating chairmanship of the EAC, civil society organizations in the East Africa recently petitioned the East African Legislative Assembly (ELA) seeking to block the beleaguered president from becoming the chair of EAC while his country is fast degenerating into a bloodbath.
Arusha, Tanzania--Civil society organizations in the East African Community (EAC) have petitioned the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to help block the Republic of Burundi from assuming the rotating Chairmanship of the EAC until it resolves the political, human rights, and humanitarian crisis in the country. Under the EAC protocol, the government of Burundi is next in line to assume the rotating chairmanship of EAC. If the petition is ignored, the embattled president of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza will become the chairman of the regional body at the next annual Heads of State Summit next year. The petition was presented to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Speaker, Daniel F. Kidega by representatives of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and the East African Civil Society Organizations Forum (EACSOF) in his chambers in Arusha, Tanzania recently. The civil society representatives proposed to EALA to urgently recommend to the summit of EAC heads of state to stop Burundi from ascending to the rotating Chairmanship of the EAC until the crisis in the country is resolved. Additionally, the civil society activists urged the regional assembly to undertake specific actions within its mandate to contain the situation in Burundi that is gradually degenerating into a humanitarian catastrophe.
The petitioners further urged the assembly to call upon the Chair of the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the African Union to take concrete steps toward preventing Burundi from descending into genocide or mass atrocities. They recommended measures that include enhancing the numbers and capacity of the human rights and military monitors deployed in the country. They further called for the activation and implementation of sanctions of the African Union. The petitioners called upon EALA or any of its relevant committee to immediately call for a public hearing in Arusha, Tanzania to welcome Burundian and East African citizens to make testimonies on what is happening in the country and to suggest proposals to resolve the crisis in Burundi.
The Atrocities Watch Africa Center for Citizens’ Participation on the African Union, East Africa Law Society, and the Kituo Cha Katiba also appended their signatures to the petition.
The petitioners claim that there have been numerous reports of assassinations and extra-judicial killings of over 130 people and requested EALA to condemn what it terms as arbitrary killings and the inordinate use of force by the police, security officials and members of a youth wing group, Imbonerakure. The petitioners say that although the authorities in Burundi have ordered investigations into the killings, no single case has been concluded, citing the murder of the former head of intelligence Services, General Adolphe Nshimirimana.
“More recently, there has been this arbitrary killing of the son of the eminent and award winning Human Rights Defender, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, who is himself under recovery after being shot, for which no investigations have been done, despite statements by the Government condemning the killings,” is an example of the extra-judicial killings taking place in Burundi, a section of the Petition states.
Additionally, the petitioners called on EALA to request the African Union to intervene in the political and humanitarian crisis citing it’s comprehensive and far reaching legal and institutional framework that includes the Constitutive Act of the African Union, 2000 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The petitioners underscored the importance of speedy responses to the situation in Burundi to avoid further bloodshed. They also demanded that “Should the recommended measures bear no fruit within a month, the EALA should call for suspension of the Burundi Government from both the EAC and the AU.”
The petitioners acknowledged and expressed appreciation toward the measures taken by various Organs and Institutions of the EAC since the crisis broke out in February this year. Some of the interventions include three Extra-Ordinary Summits by the EAC Heads of State held on Burundi and the appointment of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda to mediate in the crisis.