East African leaders have urged Burundi’s president to postpone elections due in June.

They have also called for an end to the violence sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to stand for a third term.

Their statement was made after a summit of the East African Community in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam.

A coup attempt against Mr Nkurunziza failed earlier in May and some 90,000 Burundians have fled the unrest.

‘Disappointment’

“The summit, concerned at the impasse in Burundi, strongly calls for a long postponement of the elections not less than a month and a half,” said the statement on Sunday.

The leaders also called for the “disarmament of all armed youth groups” and for the “creation of conditions for the return of refugees”.

Burundi government spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba told AFP news agency that the government welcomed the statement and was open to idea of delaying the elections.

But he said that the issue of whether the president should stand for a third term had not been discussed at the conference and that the Burundian government therefore considered the matter to be “closed”.

Indeed, it’s a disappointment to the people of Burundi, but not surprising because most of the leaders in the region are not bothered by the life presidency since all of them have changed their respective Constitutions, therefore they have no any moral authority to tell or discuss the constitutional coup in Burundi and Nkurunziza in particular.

Opponents to Mr Nkurunziza have called for people to return to the streets.

Protest leader Pacifique Nininahazwe, as quoted by AFP, said on Sunday: “We are disappointed because the summit said nothing on the question that we are concerned about.”

“We are going to stage even bigger demonstrations than we have done so far in order to get Nkurunziza to leave office,” he added.

Coup attempt

There have been weeks of protests since Burundi’s 51-year-old president announced that he would run for re-election.

Opponents have said this contravenes the constitution, which states a president can only be elected to two terms.

But Mr Nkurunziza argues that he is entitled to another term because he was first appointed by parliament in 2005.

The country’s constitutional court has upheld his interpretation. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for 5 June and the presidential poll for 26 June.

The summit was attended by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya. They were joined by South Africa’s Jacob Zuma.

Mr Nkurunziza did not attend. His spokesman said that he would be pushing forward with his election campaign instead.

With all the Nkurunziza political opponents having sanctuary in Kigali and traces of trouble leading to one direction, it’s now an open secret that Kagame wants regime change in Bujumbura, indeed, both leader s of Burundi and Rwanda respectively didn’t attend the East African Heads of State Summit, who knows may be they are all cooking spicy soup for each other.