Dual citizenship law passed

A recently-adopted law allowing Burundian citizens to hold a second nationality will help avoid potential complications during the implementation of an eventual Burundi peace accord, Justice Minister Therence Sinunguruza said on Friday. Sinunguruza told IRIN that the new dual citizenship law, passed by the National Assembly on 3 May, was important because many Burundians had fled to other countries as a result of civil strife since the early 1970s and had become citizens of their countries of asylum. Formerly, “the moment you got another citizenship, you lost your Burundian citizenship,” he said. To address the problem, the National Assembly had decided to debate the issue and pass a new law before the signing of a peace accord in Arusha. “Many in the on-going negotiations, and even in the government itself, are in this position, so we decided to sort it out lest, after the agreement, we are accused of signing it with non-Burundians,” he said.