Ten years on, Burundi reflects on benefits of EAC

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza said his top priority is to promote peace and stability. PHOTO | AFP 

In Summary

• As Burundi marks 10 years since joining the East African Community, President Pierre Nkurunziza said his top priority is to promote peace and stability in the country.
• President Nkurunziza said Burundi had played its role in the community not just in regional diplomacy but also in trade where it is at the heart of regional logistics plans encompassing roads, railways and pipelines.

By MOSES HAVYARIMANA
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Burundi’s membership to the regional bloc has helped to boost the country’s growth.

The country’s GDP for example, has increased from $1.36 billion in 2007 to $2.74 billion in 2016. And as Burundi marks 10 years since joining the East African Community, President Pierre Nkurunziza said his top priority is to promote peace and stability in the country.

The president said that through mediation, the EAC had particularly contributed to the country’s progress by finding a lasting solution to the civil war that lasted more than two decades, ending with the signing of the Arusha Peace Agreement in 2000.

That accord was tested in 2015 when President Nkurunziza ran for a controversial third term in office, plunging the country into a political crisis. The EAC has since been playing mediator in the political crisis that has left more than 500 people dead.

However, despite three emergency summits in the past year, the efforts are yet to bear fruit, with the government not keen to dialogue with parties it believes participated in the failed coup against President Nkurunziza in 2015.

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“The East African Community has and still plays a key role to reconcile Burundians, and we call on regional leaders to influence Nkurunziza to participate in an inclusive dialogue,” said Agathon Rwasa, the deputy speaker of Burundi’s parliament.

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President Nkurunziza said Burundi had played its role in the community not just in regional diplomacy but also in trade where it is at the heart of regional logistics plans encompassing roads, railways and pipelines.

The EAC Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko urged the Burundi Investment Promotion Authority to facilitate the private sector to boost growth.

“One of our development strategies is to provide more efforts towards industrialisation and investments in the community because next year we are going to do much better in terms of facilitating the inflow of the investors,” said Mr Mfumukeko.

He said that the priority for EAC was implementation of the Single Customs Territory to allow the free movement of people, and the issuing of the e-passport by November this year.

Challenges in agreeing on free movement of goods, people and services have seen countries back up the common market protocol with bilateral agreements to waive work permits on a reciprocal basis.

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