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Burundi is now ready for peace talks: senior official

Xinhua, January 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

A senior official with the Burundi government said on Friday that the east African country was now ready for peace talks aimed at finding a lasting solution to the political crisis.

"The door is open for anybody or any civil society organization which thinks can in one way or another come up with views which could resolve the political crisis in Burundi," Alain Nyamitwe, Burundian Minister for Foreign Affairs told a news conference in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

He made the assurance hardly a week after the Burundi government boycotted peace talks in Tanzania's northern town of Arusha facilitated by Tanzania as current chair of the East African Community (EAC).

Nyamitwe said for the sake of the Burundian nation his government was ready to continue with the peace talks with any person regardless of his or her political party.

Augustine Mahiga, Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs, East Africa, Regional and International Cooperation, commended the move taken by the government of Burundi, saying it would bring relief to its citizens.

He called on Burundi to hold talks with Uganda as soon as possible so that it would pave a way for the EAC ministers to hold a meeting before the heads of state of the regional bloc to discuss the situation.

Last week, the Tanzanian authorities, at the centre of Burundi peace talks, said the Burundi government still supported the talks aimed at ending civil strife in the country.

Mahiga said Burundi was not against the peace talks initiated by neighbouring states and aimed at saving the country from further bloodshed.

"We are still consulting with the Burundi government and Burundi says it is still consulting within the country on the mediation roadmap," said Mahiga at the end of a five-hour closed door meeting attended by Uganda, Angola and Tanzania, countries spearheading the peace process in the strife-torn country.

Burundi plunged into bloody chaos from last April when President Nkurunziza announced his intention to vie for the presidency for a third term which he went on to win during the controversial elections held in July.

The political upheaval in Burundi, an EAC member state, has left more than 200 dead and displaced over 200,000 people who have fled their country to seek refuge in Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Endit