DRC: Burundi's false leap at the regional mini-summit
General Evariste Ndayishimiye President of Burundi (Illustration).
REUTERS / Evrard Ngendakumana
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3 min
The Congolese Foreign Minister announced to RFI that the mini-summit of heads of state in the region, which was to be held on Sunday, September 13 in Goma, is postponed indefinitely because some leaders are "concerned" by the preparation of their participation in the UN General Assembly which is to be held from Tuesday, September 15 in New York.
The new Burundian president, General Evariste Ndayishimiye, had already declined this invitation to this mini-summit alongside the leaders of Angola, Uganda, the DRC and Rwanda, asking for bilateral discussions at the ministerial level with the Congo .
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The excuse was most diplomatic.
No senior Burundian official is available from September 9 to 13, to participate in the preparations, meeting of experts and ministerial meeting, and until the summit of heads of state which was to take place this Sunday.
Reason invoked?
"
A busy schedule
" if we are to believe a verbal note from the head of Burundian diplomacy to his Congolese counterpart, who "leaked" on social networks on the Burundian side, as if by chance.
"
It's a boycott that does not say its name
", analyzes a Burundian political scientist, explaining that "
President Ndayishimiye considers that it is still too early to meet Paul Kagame, and that relations with Kinshasa are no longer in good shape.
".
Gitega has long viewed Kinshasa as a strategic ally, which has long enabled it to conduct military operations against Burundian rebel groups on Congolese territory.
This is no longer the case and the DRC has now moved closer to Kigali, which the Burundian authorities consider as an "
enemy
".
The government of General Ndayishimiye therefore requires prior bilateral discussions with Kinshasa, in particular on security issues at the common border, while numerous infiltrations of Burundian rebels from the Congolese neighbor are reported.
Contacted by RFI, the Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs wanted to be reassuring on Saturday.
"
Our relations are very good, the two presidents talk to each other constantly,
" assured Marie Ntumba Nzenza, announcing having agreed with her Burundian counterpart that bilateral discussions would soon open between the two countries.
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DRC
Burundi
Évariste Ndayishimiye