Brussels, 09/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is to limit its cooperation with Burundi as it was not convinced by the resolve of the Burundian government on Tuesday 8 December “to generally overcome the shortfalls” as regards the respect of human rights, the rule of law and the principles of democracy. “Appropriate measures” will also be taken - which paves the way for possible sanctions.
More than five hours of discussions between the representatives of Burundi and the EU, in Brussels on Tuesday 8 December, were not enough to convince the Europeans that the utmost is being done to stem the spiral of violence that Burundi is experiencing, and to establish “sincere and inclusive dialogue” swiftly between Burundi's government and opposition. The EU had called for bilateral political consultations to be opened under Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement (see EUROPE 11418).
The aim of these consultations was to move forward with an in-depth assessment of the situation in Burundi - a country where the situation has continued to grow worse since the contested re-election of its president, Pierre Nkurunziza, for a third term of office in July. Belgian news agency Belga reported that the UN special adviser for the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, said elsewhere on Tuesday that he was concerned about the “serious risk” that the violence may end up in a civil war, and ultimately be transformed into a genocide because of the manipulation of ethnic identities “both by the government and opposition”, with the goal of pitting Hutus and Tutsis against each other.
At the end of the consultations in Brussels, the EU said in a press release that it believed the “positions expressed do not permit the shortfalls in essential elements of this partnership with the Republic of
Burundi to be generally overcome”. As a result, “appropriate measures will be proposed to the decision-making bodies of the European Union (and) precautionary measures could be taken as regards ongoing cooperation activities and by limiting new cooperation activities of a humanitarian nature or of a nature benefitting the peoples directly”.
The government of Burundi does not have the same view of these consultations. In an official press release it says that it is “satisfied” with a meeting that took place “in a relaxed atmosphere of mutual understanding” and that “enabled the dialogue to be relaunched between Burundi and the EU”. “The Burundian delegation has proven the resolve of the government on strengthening good governance, and the human rights and rule of law situation”, this press release states. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)