Burundi crisis set to top agenda of Eala meeting

Arusha. The political turmoil in Burundi and the country’s troubled relations with its neighbours are expected to take the centre stage as the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) meets today in Kigali, Rwanda.

Conflict-ridden Burundi had previously threatened to boycott the meeting.

The session will commence with an address by President Paul Kagame, in line with a tradition when the regional Assembly sits in a partner state.

Eala officials were rushing to the Rwandan capital yesterday for the State of the EAC address by the Rwandan leader, confident that all will go on well for the commencement of the two-week session during which a number of bills and reports will be tabled.

But there is still uncertainty on the presence of all legislators from Burundi after five of them threatened to boycott the session due to their country’s sour relations with Rwanda.

Three MPs, Ms Emerence Bucumi, Ms Isabelle Ndahayo and Mr Jean Marie Muhirwa told reporters in Arusha early last month that they and two of their colleagues had notified the Eala Speaker that they would not attend the coming session in Kigali, citing the political differences between Burundi and Rwanda.

Two other lawmakers in the group are Mr Emmanuel Nengo and Mr Leonce Ndarubagiye. Under the Eala rules, three MPs from each state make a quorum. Each country has nine representatives in Eala.

Although there has not been an official response from Eala, its officials have played down the threat saying Eala still maintained cordial relations with the Burundian government. One official who requested anonymity said the communication on the purported threat neither came from the Bujumbura government nor the country’s minister responsible for East African Community (EAC) Affairs.

Burundi MPs have also repeatedly complained that their country was being sidelined in hosting of EAC activities. The Citizen could not establish yesterday if the threat to boycott the Kigali session was still there.

Mr Charles Makongoro Nyerere, an Eala member from Tanzania, said Tanzania defended the House on its failure to hold sessions in Burundi since 2016.

He said a special session of the House held in Arusha after the assassination of Burundi MP Hafsa Mossi on July 13th, 2016 agreed to skip Bujumbura for some time because at that time the MPs were not assured of safety there.

The last time Eala held a session in the Bujumbura capital was in March 2015, shortly before the country plunged into violence. Rwanda last hosted a session of the regional Parliament in November/December, 2015.