Burundi: Mkapa arrives to revive peace talks

Tanzania’s former president Benjamin Mkapa arrived in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura on Wednesday to revive the collapsed Inter-Burundi Dialogue peace talks. Mkapa was appointed to facilitate the talks by the East African Community heads of state in March.

Mkapa’s visit comes following an invitation from the Burundian presidency, and is scheduled to meet President Pierre Nkurunziza on Thursday. He will also meet political parties and stake holders in Burundi’s civil society, religious leaders and the international community representatives.

Since his appeal in May 2016 to Parties to the Conflict to desist from violent acts and give dialogue a chance, there has been a noticeable improvement on the security situation in Burundi.

Burundi has been in a serious crisis since April 2015 when Pierre Nkurunziza sought for a controversial third term in office. The violence has left more than 500 dead, and pushed more than 300,000 others to flee the country.