Warioba to head EAC poll observer team in Burundi

Former Constitutional Review Commission chairman Joseph Warioba speaks at a past gathering in Dar es Salaam.  PHOTO | FILE


Former Prime Minister Joseph Warioba will head an election observer team from the East African Community (EAC) in Burundi.

EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera made the announcement as the international community is getting increasingly concerned about  violence which has claimed thousands of lives in the country.

Dr Sezibera told reporters here that the team would also include former EAC Secretary-General Amanya Mushega from Uganda.

He said the Burundi situation was worrying amid fears that the situation would deteriorate further with the country inching towards the polls in five months’ time.

The EAC team to be headed by Mr Warioba, until recently the chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), would reach out all groups in Burundi to ensure peaceful polls.

“Our aim is to see Burundi going through peaceful elections. The observer mission will meet and have discussions with all actors in the Burundi political arena,” Dr Sezibera said.

Burundi, which will hold elections in June, has been wracked by violence pitting various forces, the most recent being the killing of 100 people near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

There are reports of various rebel groups fighting the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza who, according to reports, will be seeking his third term as president.

His plan to seek another  five year term after serving as president since 2005 has been condemned by his opponents while the donor community has expressed deep reservations.

But Dr Sezibera said EAC was keen to see the troubles which have rocked Burundi resolved by the Burundians themselves and not the outsiders.

“We the outsiders are just supplementing these efforts.  But the election exercise will have to be  planned and run by the Burundi themselves,” he said.

He added that EAC wants a free, fair and peaceful elections in Burundi.  According to Dr Sezibera, EAC would dispatch another team to monitor the General Election in Tanzania later this year.