Longest UN mediation in Burundi crisis ends
Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - The latest UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Burundi, Michel Kafando, offered his resignation in mid-week to the UN Security Council, leaving behind him a still "tense" situation in this country of the African Great Lakes, where he had been assigned as a mediator in the political crisis following the controversial and violent elections in 2015, including a failed military coup attempt.
The former strong man of the Transition in Burkina Faso is the fourth United Nations Special Envoy to Burundi to throw in the towel in recent years of a Burundian crisis, marked by a dialogue of the deaf, irreducible animosities between power and opposition, and residual insecurity.
The previous good offices of UN diplomats, including Algerian Saidi Djinit, Moroccan, Ben Omar, Senegalese, Abdoulaye Batilly, and Sudanese Nourredine Satti, were practically stillborn.
The failure of a high-level panel of five African heads of state, Mauritanian Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, Senegalese Macky Sall, Gabonese Ali Bongo, South African Jacob Zuma and Ethiopian Prime Minister Haile Mariam Dessalegn, to convince their Burundian counterpart to accept an African Military Protection Mission in Burundi (MAPROBU) of 5,000 troops, is also worth noting.
Former Tanzanian President Benjamin William M'Kapa also abdicated, without tangible results, after two years of facilitation in the Burundian crisis, under the aegis of the East African Community.
Burundi's main traditional technical and financial partners, including those of the European Union (EU), have gone there with economic and diplomatic sanctions, again without changing the fortunes.
On 29 July 2017, Mr Kafando contacted the Burundian Head of State, Pierre Nkurunziza, declaring himself "honoured by the trust" that the Government of Burundi had placed in him, by accepting his appointment by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
"I am a peacekeeper!. Where I am called upon to make my modest contribution, I do so for the benefit of Africa. I am counting on the collaboration of the authorities to advance the Burundian cause," he announced.
"In view of his political and diplomatic experience, we hope that he will do better than his predecessors and that he will refrain from violating certain laws or resolutions in force, as we have seen for some of his predecessors," said the spokesman for the then Burundian Head of State, Willy Nyamitwe.
This was the first and last time the UN diplomat saw the Burundian head of state.
"The hopes raised by this first meeting with the Head of State of Burundi, particularly on issues related to dialogue and cooperation with the UN, have unfortunately not yet been fulfilled," he said in his farewell address to the Security Council.
Mr Kafando's latest quarterly report (June 14 to October 15, 2019) concludes on "an increase in political intolerance and attacks on civil and political liberties" in the country.
During the reporting period, "the political situation in Burundi remained marked by the impasse in the inter-Burundian dialogue and preparations for the general elections", the report insists.
With regard to new developments, the report recalls that Burundi's Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) published the electoral calendar on 28 June. The new general elections are scheduled for the summer of 2020.
However, "it is still unclear whether all interested stakeholders will participate in the elections, given the shrinking political space and the need to create an environment conducive to peaceful, transparent and credible elections," the report said.
Moreover, "while the President of the Republic of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, has repeated on several occasions that he will not run for re-election, the ruling party has not yet nominated a candidate for the next presidential election," according to sources.
In addition, "Burundi has witnessed a significant increase in the number of acts of political intolerance, often committed by the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), joined or not resisted by representatives of local authorities and members of the security services".
On the other hand, the report notes that four years after its launch, under the aegis of the East African Community, the inter-Burundian dialogue has still not taken place.
However, "this dialogue would have made it possible for the new Burundi, in perspective, to be everyone's business, thus avoiding the questioning and eternal restarts, which we have seen in the past", stressed the Special Envoy of the United Nations.
Mr Kafando's explanation is that this failure lies "in the lack of political will of the parties involved in the Burundian crisis, but also in the hesitant commitment of the States of the sub-region".
With regard to national political actors, the report recalls that Burundian Government officials have consistently stated that the inter-Burundian dialogue has been completed and have complained about the interference of some members of the international community in Burundi's internal affairs while stressing that the dialogue focused mainly on the preparations for the general elections.
The opposition, for its part, has consistently criticized the countries of the region and the international community for their inability to obtain, without preconditions, the Government's participation in the inclusive dialogue.
-0- PANA FB/JSG/MTA/VAO 1Nov2019
