BUJUMBURA December 13th (ABP) – The President of the Republic of Burundi, Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye, received, on Saturday, December 10, 2022, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization (UN) in the Great Lakes Region, Mr. Xia Huang. In an interview with the press at the end of the audience, Xia Huang made it clear that they discussed several issues, in this case, the latest developments in the Great Lakes region, the important role played by Burundi as signatory country of the framework agreement and Burundi in office of the presidency of the East African Community.
According to him, the role played by the President of the Republic of Burundi since he was at the head of the EAC is highly appreciated by the countries of the region and the rest of the international community with regard to the Nairobi and Luanda process. “Today everyone is unanimous in saying that with this presidency of the EAC ensured by President Ndayishimiye, we are seeing tangible results and a strong dynamic with regard to the coordination between the two processes”, he said. To that end, he reassured that the United Nations is there to accompany and support President Ndayishimiye in all that work and his efforts.
Mr. Huang also pointed out that with the Head of State, they discussed a very important deadline which is the next high-level meeting of the regional monitoring mechanism of the Addis Ababa framework agreement. “The President wanted to insist that today all the signatory countries of the Addis Ababa framework agreement fully recognize the relevance of this agreement to manage all these peace, security and development issues in the Great Lakes,” he said. The framework agreement is, according to him, a document of paramount importance, a hat that oversees the whole process and all the political and diplomatic efforts in progress, he explained.
Thus, he specified that the next summit of the regional monitoring mechanism will take place in Bujumbura on February 24, 2023. The summit will be an opportunity to assess the efforts already made over the past ten years in the implementation of the Addis Ababa framework agreement and see how to ensure the implementation of that legal document in a franker, more serious and sincere way, he added. That summit will be a very important occasion for the Great Lakes region and also for Burundi which will host that summit and thus, President Ndayishimiye will chair the regional follow-up mechanism.