Amid
Burundi
Crackdown, Qs
From Some at
UN, US Travel
Warning
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
11, with video
-- Amid
protests and
crackdown
after Pierre
Nkurunziza was
nominated to
run for a
third term as
President in
seeming
violation of
the Arusha
Peace Accord,
on May 11 the
UN Peacebuilding
Configuration
for Burundi met
and sought
answers from
Burundi's minister
by video.
Asking
questions were
Swiss
Permanent
Representative
Paul Seger and
his
counterparts
from Belgium
and Tanzania,
Ambassador
Manongi, as
well as the
UK's Deputy
Permanent Representative
Peter Wilson.
France, the
penholder on
Burundi in the
UN Security
Council, did
not send its
Permanent
Representative
Francois
Delattre nor
his Deputy
Alexis Lamec.
Questions were
raised about
the armed
youth wing,
the crackdown
on media, the
outward flows
of refugees.
The responses
were generally
dismissive --
Wilson wondered
aloud at the
disparity
between the
Minister's
denials on the
youth wing and
all other
available
information --
and on press
freedom,
troubling.
Media is political,
the minister
said, justifying
the crackdown.
But
what will come
next? Later on
May 11, the US
issued a travel
warning on Burundi
saying among
other things
that "Armed
groups operate
in Burundi...
Exchanges of
gunfire and
grenade
attacks have
increased but
are usually
not directed
at foreigners."
It's that kind
of thinking
that the
ruling party
seems to be
counting on.
Watch this
site.
Inner City
Press on May 8
asked
Tanzanian
President Kikwete
what his
country and
the East
African
Community are
trying to do.
Video
here.
Kikwete,
at the UN for
a press
conference
about the High
Level Panel on
Global
Response to
Health Crises,
told Inner
City Press to
ask him about
Burundi after
the press
conference.
Inner City
Press did,
specifically
if the EAC
will be
opining on if
a third term
would violate
the Arusha
Agreements or
pose regional
threats.
"Be patient,"
was Kikwete's
response,
saying that
the foreign
ministers who
visited
Burundi will
report back on
May 13. We
will cover
that at that
time.
During the press
conference,
Kikwete dealt
with aplomb
when UN Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq
called him the
"former
president" of
Tanzania.
There were a
number of
"formers" (and
"futures") on
the panel, but
Kikwete is
current.
Moments after
Kikwete's and
the panel's
press
conference,
the UN
Security
Council issued
"elements to
the press"
which "called
upon all
parties to
refrain from
violence and
to prioritize
Burundi’s
peace and
stability
through the
current
political
dialogue and
also to
achieve their
needs through
legal and
peaceful
means. They
stressed the
need to hold a
credible,
transparent,
inclusive and
peaceful
electoral
process."
Inner
City Press
asked the
Security
Council's
president for
May
Raimonda
Murmokaite of
Lithuania how
the third term
was discussed
in the
Council's
closed
meeting. She
replied that
individual
members did
express their
views on the
third term but
it was not
really the
essence of the
discussion.
We'll have
more on this.
Inner City
Press has
asked the UN
about Burundi,
most recently
on May 4 and 5
and now May 6,
below. Now
it's said the
UN's Said
Djinnit will
belatedly
brief the
Security
Council on May
7 - we'll be
there.
On May 6,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN, " I
don't know if
you have an
update on
Burundi?"
Moments later,
beyond an
if-asked, a
statement was
handed to UN
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq,
who answered
Inner City
Press with
this:
"Regarding
Burundi, after
a plenary
session
yesterday,
Burundian
stakeholders
continued the
political
dialogue.
Our Special
Envoy for the
Great Lakes
region, Said
Djinnit, is
facilitating
work in
smaller
committees.
The objective
of the
dialogue
remains to
seek common
grounds for
creating
conditions for
the holding of
peaceful,
inclusive, and
credible
elections in
Burundi.
Meanwhile, we
welcome the
arrival in
Bujumbura of
the foreign
ministers of
the East
African
community, and
we look
forward to
working
closely with
the region on
this."
The UN is
relentlessly
upbeat - and
marginalized.
Watch this
site.
On
May 4, Inner
City Press
asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Inner
City Press: On
Burundi, I
want to know
if you have
any statement
on the
violence in
the capital in
which at least
two people
have been
killed today
protesting the
third-term run
of the
President?
Spokesman
Dujurric:
Sure, we
continue to
follow the
events in
Burundi with
great concern
and deplore
the loss of
lives and
injuries as
well as the
destruction of
property that
we've
seen. We
reiterate our
calls to all
the parties to
reject
violence,
exercise
maximum
restraint, and
avoid using
inflammatory
language, as
well as to
take the
necessary
appeasement
measures to
create
conditions for
dialogue.
In this
regard, the UN
mission on the
ground, MENUB,
has been
encouraging
all
stakeholders
to seize the
opportunities
of the
dialogue that
is organized
by the
Ministry of
Interior with
the support of
the UN on 5
and 6
May.
That is
tomorrow and
Wednesday.
And we trust
that
stakeholders
will see and
build on this
dialogue as an
opportunity to
defuse
tensions and
seek common
grounds for
creating
conditions for
the holding of
peaceful,
inclusive, and
credible
elections in
Burundi.
Later
on May 4, Ban
Ki-moon met
with Uganda's
Yoweri
Museveni, but
no UN read-out
was issued. On
May 5, Inner
City Press
asked for
this, and
about the
judge who fled
the country
amid death
threats. Video
here.
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