East African Community To Be Stalled Until Burundi-Rwanda Row Settled - Burundi Ambassador

The East African Community (EAC) should convene an extraordinary summit to try to resolve crisis in relations between Burundi and Rwanda, otherwise the protracted row between the two member nations will prevent the whole organization from moving on with its economic integration goals, Burundian Ambassador to Russia Edouard Bizimana told Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2019) The East African Community (EAC) should convene an extraordinary summit to try to resolve crisis in relations between Burundi and Rwanda, otherwise the protracted row between the two member nations will prevent the whole organization from moving on with its economic integration goals, Burundian Ambassador to Russia Edouard Bizimana told Sputnik.

In December, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza urged the EAC leadership to convene an extraordinary summit to address the differences between Burundi and Rwanda, whose relations have deteriorated since 2015. According to Rwanda, the 2015 re-election of Nkurunziza and failed coup in the neighboring country have resulted in the influx of refugees. The situation is also exacerbated by mutual trade restrictions and frequent deadly border incidents, which take roots in years-long territorial disputes and ethnic conflicts.

"Without this summit, without discussing these issues openly, I think the East African Community would have problems to move forward," Bizimana said in an interview.

The ambassador stressed that the summit would be "a kind of prerequisite" for the relations between the two countries to improve.

"Burundi and Rwanda are twin countries, I would say; neighbors which share a lot of things together in terms of geography, in terms of history. Burundi and Rwanda were both former colonies of Germany and then Belgium. We have the same population, we speak almost the same language and we share borders and we are part of the East African Community. So we are bound to live together," he said, expressing regret over Rwanda's "unfriendly" actions.

Rwanda, which is currently the EAC chair, is not interested in holding the summit at the moment, according to Bizimana.

He argued that the current lack of freedom of people movement between Rwanda and Burundi would also affect the implementation of the Continental Free Trade Area promoted by the African Union.

The EAC is one of integration projects on the African continent, which brings together Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. In 2010, the community launched the common market and now plans to create a monetary union.