Burundian  and international human rights organizations have voiced their irritation over the continuing silence of East African Community heads of state towards the country’s progressing political and humanitarian crisis.

The organizations maintain that the EAC leaders, who are due to start a summit meeting here tomorrow, have let down not only Burundi as a country, but the whole international community as well.
Their main concern is why the regional leaders have chosen not to prioritize the Burundian issue on the summit agenda despite the worsening situation there, even with embattled president Pierre Nkurunziza himself due to attend the summit.
“We are deeply concerned (about this) and request that it be given due priority,” stated Marie-Louise Baricako from the Movement of Women and Girls for Peace and Security in Burundi, a human rights group.
Baricako called on the summit to reaffirm the urgent need for the protection of Burundian citizens being killed and brutalized on a daily basis.
“We call upon the summit to support the establishment of a credible investigative mechanism to independently investigate all allegations of human rights violations in Burundi, as recommended by the committee on regional affairs and conflict resolution of the East African Legislative Assembly,” she said.
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), a total of 245,265 people had fled the unstable country and sought refuge in neighboring countries by Wednesday last week (February 24).
This, coupled by the hundreds of deaths reported since April last year, was just a sign of how the Burundi’s political crisis was taking on a regional dimension with a serious impact on EAC citizens in general, Baricako said.
The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) chief executive officer, Donald Deya, questioned the seriousness of the five EAC presidents in omitting to include Burundi on their summit agenda.
“It is now close to nine months (since the crisis started) and they have not shown any real commitment to ending the political stalemate that has caused it all, even as the crisis gets progressively worse,” he said.
According to Deya, Nkurunziza does not deserve to assume the EAC chairmanship, and there is currently no Burundian national fit enough to succeed Dr Richard Sezibera as the bloc’s secretary general.
Amnesty International human rights campaigner Rachel Nicholson described the summit as an important opportunity for the EAC to act decisively, especially with Nkurunziza present.
“We have documented the presence of mass graves in Burundi therefore there is a need to bring to light what is happening in the country and make those thought to be responsible for the atrocities accountable for their actions,” Nicholson said.
The EAC Heads of State summit includes, among other things, deliberations on reports prepared by the EAC council of ministers on the negotiations for the admission of Somalia and Southern Sudan into the community.
It will also consider ministerial council reports on progress towards forming an EAC political federation, introducing harmonized EAC roaming charges, promoting motor vehicle assembly in the region and reducing the importation of used motor vehicles from outside.