President Pierre Nkurunziza on Thursday met with his Tanzanian
counterpart John Magufuli in Ngara in northwestern Tanzania in his first
ever trip outside Burundi since the failed May 2015 coup.
The Burundian leader was attending the East African Heads of State Summit in Dar es Salaam when a coup d’état was declared
by General Godefroid Niyombare. The coup attempt was crushed in 24
hours, but in the ensuing political crisis, more than 500 people have
been killed and 380,000 others displaced.
On Thursday,
the two East African leaders met in a small town near their common
border and held talks on bilateral issues, including security and
refugees.
“We talked about the security situation,
especially regarding those Burundians who fled to Tanzania,” President
Nkurunziza said.
He asked the Burundians in Tanzanian refugee camps to return home, assuring them that there is peace and stability in Bujumbura.
President Nkurunziza noted that more than 150,000 Burundians had returned home “without the support of the United Nations.”
Citizenship
Tanzania’s Home Affairs Minister Mwigulu Nchemba said that 200,000 Burundians had been given Tanzanian citizenship since 2006.
Mr
Nchemba said Tanzania was hosting 247,000 Burundians in its refugee
camps. He added that at least 5,000 of those in the camps had registered
for the voluntary repatriation programme.
President
Magufuli supported the programme, appealing to the Burundians to go home
and build their country. Burundi has relatively gained stability after
two years of violent clashes in Bujumbura and its environs.
President
Nkurunziza’s Tanzanian visit came a few weeks after the UN
Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Michel Kafando ended two-week
consultations with stakeholders in the Burundi talks.
Mr
Kafando was appointed in May by the United Nations Secretary-General
António Guterres to lead and co-ordinate UN’s political efforts to
promote peace and sustainable development in Burundi. He is working with
the East African Community to promote dialogue among Burundian leaders.
Although
grenade attacks in public places have been witnessed in recent months,
claiming at least eight lives and injuring 70 people, the Burundi
government says that the crime rate has gone down by 32 per cent in the
past three months.
“The security situation has
continued to improve, but we noted cases of grenade attacks and
terrorist acts in some localities of Bujumbura,” said Public Security
Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni.
Illegal weapons
He said security agencies have conducted operations that have have netted 43 illegal weapons and 1,212 suspects.
Last
week alone, police impounded more than 150 vehicles without legal
documents which spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said were suspected to be
used in criminal activities. The police have mounted roadblocks and
checkpoints on the streets and major roads which they say have boosted
security in the country.
The Burundi National Human Rights Council says rights abuses have decreased but several people have been disappeared.
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