Brussels, 13/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - In the immediate wake of the adoption by the United Nations Security Council of a resolution on the crisis in Burundi, the Council of the EU will adopt conclusions on Monday 16 November on the sidelines of the foreign ministers' meeting on the political and security crisis in that country. Burundi is facing escalating violence ever since its president, Pierre Nkurunziza declared he would stand for a third term of office and some are talking of a danger of genocide (see EUROPE 11427).
The Council will express its very deep concern at the spiral of violence, murders, beatings and incitement to hatred. It is expected to call for all parties to show restraint and to engage in inclusive political dialogue under Ugandan mediation, as the only way out of the crisis.
The Council will call on the Burundian authorities to engage constructively in the political consultation to which the EU invited them, under the terms of Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement to try to resolve the situation. The consultation could take place in Brussels at the start of December.
In Malta on Thursday 12 November, on the sidelines of the EU-Africa summit on migration, European and African partners and the UN pledged to work closely together to try to prevent any worsening of the crisis. In a joint statement, UN Deputy General Secretary Jan Eliasson, African Union Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said they were “alarmed by the widening divisions, the threat for many more lives and a deep regional crisis” and said that they had agreed urgently to convene a meeting of the Burundian government and opposition representatives in Addis Ababa or in Kampala, under the chairmanship of President Musevini. “No effort can be spared to achieve an end to the violence and to foster a political solution”, they stated, while, in Brussels, the Parliament's human rights committee were debating the situation as a matter of urgency. Committee chair Elena Valenciano, extremely concerned by the massive human right violations and targeted attacks on human rights activists, journalists and their families, called for a fact-finding mission to be deployed rapidly, under the aegis of the UN. “We cannot let Burundi sink into genocide”, she pleaded. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)