No peace in DRC at expense of Burundi, envoy warns

Burundi’s permanent representative to the UN Marc Nteturuye on Wednesday stressed there would not be lasting peace in the DRC if that country had to rebuild itself at the expense of Burundi. He told a Security Council debate on Congo that “the welcome peace prospects in the DRC are paradoxically, but deliberately, at the root of the worsening security situation in Burundi”.

He asked regional countries involved in the peace process to work as a united front to end the war in Burundi since “peace will have either to be regional or not be there at all”. “Those who understand the socio-political realities of this part of Africa will attest to this,” he added. Nteturuye also called on the countries that had “influence” over Burundi’s rebel groups to urge the rebels to give up violence and rejoin the peace process. He asked the Security Council to make provision for the use of “coercive measures, used elsewhere in similar situations” if the “rebels permanently turn their back on a negotiated solution”.

“Violence in Burundi is preventing implementation of the [Arusha] peace accord,” he said. “Support from various quarters for the armed groups does not give an impression of interest in implementing the accord...peace must be saved in Burundi. The Arusha accord must be saved before it’s too late.”