Friday, March 29, 2024

President Rupiah Banda expected in Burundi tomorrow

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President Rupiah Banda is expected here tomorrow to attend an emergency one day heads of state and government summit on the Burundi peace process.

Mr. Banda, who is expected to arrive at Bujumbura International Airport at about 09:00 hours, will be companied by Minister of Home Affairs, Kalombo Mwansa, Local Government Deputy Minister, Eustarkio Kazonga and other senior government officials.

Zambia’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Professor Royson Mukwena, who is also ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda and the Comoros, confirmed this to ZANIS in Bujumbura today.

Professor Mukwena said Mr. Banda will join South African President, Kgalema Motlanthe, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President of Tanzania and African Union Chairperson, Jakaya Kikwete and the host President, Pierre Nkurunziza.

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and President Joseph Kabila of Democratic Republic of Congo were also invited to attend the summit but they had, by press time, not confirmed their attendance yet.

The one day summit, which will be held at the Hotel Source Du Nil in Bujumbura, has been called by the chairman of the Burundi peace process, Mr. Museveni, who is also the President of Uganda.

The summit is aimed at among other issues, stating the position of the Great Lakes region on the implementation of the peace agreements signed at the Dar es Salaam summit of 2006 in Tanzania.

The Dar es Salaam summit directed the remaining Burundi rebel group, the Pelipehutu Federation for National Liberation (Pelipehutu FNL) to stop its rebellious activities against the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza.

It was agreed that President Nkurunziza accommodates some members of the Pelipehutu FNL into various departments of government.

The two parties, President Nkurunziza’s government and the Pelipehutu FNL, have since the 2006 Dar es Salaam summit, not implemented the agreements they signed hence the concern by Great Lakes countries and other mediators.

However, the Pelipehutu FNL leaders, who were in Tanzania and some in the bush within Burundi, started arriving in Bujumbura in May this year, which was a step towards the integration and disarmament process.
Last month, Ministers of Foreign Affairs for Tanzania and Uganda respectively, informed the two warring parties in Burundi that they had a deadline of December 31st, 2008 to resolve their difficulties and implement the agreements.

The parties should complete the assembling and disarmament of the Pelipehutu FNL and accommodation of some of its members into the government departments before the end of this year.

The other issue is that the Pelipehutu FNL should abandon the use of Pelipehutu in their grouping, which seeks to be recognized as a political party in Burundi, because the name, Pelipehutu, has tribal connotations with the Hutu tribe by December 31st this year.

The summit tomorrow is also expected to address difficulties the two parties have been facing in implementing the agreements.

President Banda, who will be backed by Zambia’s Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, Dr. Siteke Mwale, is expected to return to Lusaka in the afternoon after the summit.

ENDS/KSH/PK/ZANIS.

34 COMMENTS

  1. Stop wasting our money on meaningless diplomatic trips. These Hutus and Tustis will never learn from anyone. After all, they are not indegenous Africans. They are nilotes and not Bantu speaking so they won’t listen to you. They compete with the Somalis and Ethiopians ne bashala kulya.

  2. Running away from Xavier? On a serious note, he should be sorting out the food (mealie-meal) crisis at home. True leaders put on hold such trips to attend to matters of national importance. Maybe he has delegated.

  3. Bon voyage my president. Please carry thandie along this time. She must learn to interract with her fellow first ladies not these takataka jealous ladies we have around.

  4. Ok. I saw the headlines and immediately thought he was inviting them to invest in Zambia.

    But as # 5 points out I hope he is not trying to run away from internal issues i.e. Xavier and diverting the nations attention to Burundi.

  5. Guys, Xevier Chungu has arrived in the Country and he is in Police custody right now. Nyama Soya stay home and sort out the food crisis instead of going for a talk show in Burundi.

  6. Mu suspicion is that he came on “HIS OWN WILL”. The IG has to say what he is saying so as to not have people start speculating that the plunderers are being set free, if you get what I am trying to say.

  7. Oh and thanx i shaw conduct a fresh investigation to see if he has been turned state witness or just taking the fall to clear other names

  8. Chungu is another scape goat to divert you and me from thinking about the hunger situation. Soon he will be walking freely. Why come now when LMP is gone. Sure this is a circus.

  9. taking the footsteps of his predecessor he went went zungulula world before he begarn working.he travelled most of his first term.even attending council meetings in japan while his counterpart takes care of his country`s important issues.and he called it learning hoe japanes councils operate.meanwhile the rightful person for that, silvia masebo who was at that level was busy fighting kapoyas at city market

  10. Considering that Sata publicly declared as his priority policy to unconditionally pardon Xavier Chungu a day after winning electionss, the plunder’s surrender and self humiliation is the surrest way of his loss of hope in the Sata dream of ruling Zambia.He has just put a nail in the Sata Guy Scott ticket that no way no how will they ever enter plot one.The poor soul is tired waiting for the unknown on foreign streets where everything has been lost.Even captain solo in Mukobeko whose family visits him and children going to school is happier than Chungu who has nothing to his name.Wife and brother Emmanuel late MP gone, properties frozen and children surrendered to Hiv Aids, prostitution and i

  11. #3
    The hutus are bantu and even though tutsis are of nilote descent, they are more bantu, they speak and practice bantu languages and customs.
    Tutsis and Hutus aint small tribes u know, they number about 23 millions in the great lake region.
    We need stability in the region.

  12. Ba President ba ku Afrika kuyendayenda. He just came back from Nigeria dn now Burundi…he has made more outside trips that local ones since he became President.wow!

  13. What are the “will be companied by Minister of Home Affairs, Kalombo Mwansa, Local Government Deputy Minister, Eustarkio Kazonga and other senior government officials” going to do in Burundi?The whole lot of the Home Affairs Ministers leaving HOME matters unsolved to visit Burundi when his position would have been taken up by the Foreign Affairs Minister. To this end, let us take a leaf from the US, where people know what their job description is. C. Rice as Secretary of State moves around the world to discuss the US’ position while the Secretary of Homeland and Security(SoHaS) stays at home in the US making sure that all is going as expected. However, the SoH may around visit when on leave.

  14. He has started with the trips again, same with LPM please Nyama Soya relax abit coz jet lag is not good for old people AKA 74 yr olds. Were you just in Nigeria the other day? Oooooooh lekani. Problem mwatemwa saana enjoying per diem

  15. Ba RUPIAH BANDA put your house in place before you start spending our tax payers money. There are some so called ministers in your house who need to be shakened so stop the issue of travelling and sweep that house alaaaaaaa.

  16. Rb,prove to the people that you deserve to be President by working and not travelling in that beautiful Jet while wasting my tax money.Did you hear that an Uncle killed a nephew in Kitwe just over a plate of Nshima?.

  17. RB don’t waste our money on useless trips.Kalombo Mwansa and three govt officials are enough to attend that talk.

  18. #21 Leave out the family.We have serious issues that require lots of our hard earned taxes to spend on than enrich one private prosecutor.
    What with hunger looming ?

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