IMC meeting calls for repeal of laws

The latest round of the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) meeting, which ended in Arusha on Monday, decided that the current interim government and parliament should repeal a number of laws found to be hindering free political activity in Burundi. A statement from the office of the IMC chairman, Ambassador Berhanu Dinka, said the meeting had requested the government and parliament to draft, “as a matter of priority”, a law that would grant temporary immunity from prosecution for politically motivated crimes, and to forward the draft law to the IMC for review pending its adoption by parliament. “Such a temporary immunity law could encourage a number of political leaders living in exile to return to Burundi to participate in the transitional institutions to be set up under the Arusha accord,” the statement said.

The meeting also considered the conditions required for the installation of a transitional government, and held an exchange of views on the appropriate timing and the necessary preconditions for requesting an international peacekeeping force to support the implementation process. It also reviewed the preparatory work being undertaken by the UN system and the government in Burundi for the future voluntary repatriation and reintegration of an estimated 600,000 Burundian refugees, and the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons, the statement added. The week-long IMC meeting was the third since it started work in January.