“Commit to peace, security, stability” – Museveni tells Barundi

President Yoweri Museveni has called upon the warring factions in the East African Community member country of Burundi to put aside their personal interest and commit themselves to the security, peace and stability of Burundi in order to stop the insecurity that is being perpetuated by armed groupings in that country.

The President, who was speaking at the resumption of the Burundi Peace and Security Dialogue that opened at Entebbe State this morning, stressed that by perpetuating insecurity in the country the warring factions are killing the economy of Burundi, scaring away the private sector and will become vulnerable to the donor demands.

“My advice to you is to stick to he dialogue as a means to solve problems and you should not bring in the issue conditionalities but rather discuss the substance to avoid further and continued extrajudicial killings in Burundi,” he said.

Mr. Museveni, who is the Chief Mediator on the Burundi Crisis, blamed the unrest in Burundi and many other African countries on pseudo- ideology based on religious, ethnic sectarianism and indiscipline of the Army. He, therefore, urged the people of Burundi to work together and find a lasting solution to the current unrest in their country.

The President further stated that the crisis in Burundi is linked to that of Rwanda way back in 1959 where there where mass killings between the Hutu and Tutsi communities which, he said, can’t be allowed to continue. He assured the Dialogue meeting that as Chief Mediator, he will send a team to Burundi quietly to investigate the alleged killings being committed in the country.

“I have been watching the situation in Africa closely for 50 years. The problems are clear. Killing of people, killing of prisoners of war, even if somebody is a prisoner of war, he should not be killed but rather be handled according to the international law,” he said.

Leonard Nyangoma, who spoke on behalf of the political opposition, asserted that the conflict in Burundi is as a result of what he said was the violation of the Arusha Agreement by President Pierre Nkurunziza after serving his 10-year term of office. He called for the restoration of the Arusha Accord and asked the African Union (AU) to urgently deploy a peacekeeping force in Burundi to stop what he termed Government systematic killing campaign.

Former Burundi Heads of State, diplomats, special envoys, religious leaders, civil society organizations, and representatives of the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), the United States of America (USA) and the African Union (AU), among others, attended the Entebbe Dialogue meeting. The Dialogue is slated to resume on January 5th 2016 in the Northern Tanzanian City of Arusha