Riddle of Tanzania and Burundi as EAC bloc leaders meet

President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania
and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi
stayed out of the loop of the third
infrastructure summit in Kigali,
Rwanda but their absence loomed
large in the conference room.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni
told journalists in a brief press
conference Monday that talk of a
“coalition of the willing” involving his
country, Rwanda and Kenya was
inaccurate since the three were only
discussing infrastructure projects
along the northern corridor and would
involve Tanzania once discussions
moved to the southern corridor.
However, the final communiqué after
the meeting of the three heads of state
did not include an update on efforts to
fast-track the East African political
federation, a matter whose discussion
outside the East African Community
Tanzanian officials have expressed
concern over.
At the last infrastructure summit in
Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa,
Uganda was tasked to spearhead
efforts to fast-track the political
federation and a committee headed by
the country’s Internal Affairs minister
Aronda Nyakairima met in Kampala
this month to start the writing of a
draft constitution.
They had been expected to provide an
update to the Rwanda summit.
Gen. Nyakairima declined to comment
on the exercise, while Kenya’s East
African Affairs, Commerce and
Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis
Kandie said talk of a political
federation was a “side-show”, which
had not been discussed by the
ministers or the heads of state in
Kigali.
Tanzania’s ministry of East African
Cooperation recently issued a
statement warning that the tri-lateral
talks among Kenya, Rwanda and
Uganda were against the EAC protocol.
A private visit
The statement argued that all EAC
member states had to endorse the
regional infrastructure deals signed by
presidents Kenyatta, Museveni and
Kagame, otherwise they contravened
Article 7(1) (e) of the EAC protocol.
“Even though this Article allows
member countries to enter bi-lateral
or tri-lateral agreements, it is a must
that issues under consideration for
implementation under this
arrangement are fully discussed and
agreed upon by all member
countries,” the statement from the
ministry said.
However, President Museveni Monday
said he was unaware of complaints
from Tanzania about the trilateral
agreements.
“Unless I get an official letter from the
state, I consider what I see in the press
as lies,” he said in response to a
journalist’s question.
Tanzanian diplomats are understood
to have expressed their concerns
about being left out of the regional
plans through the Council of Ministers.
Officials in Dar es Salaam say they had
not been invited to participate in the
Coalition of the Willing and were
expected to raise the matter more
directly at the next EAC Heads of State
Summit in Kampala in late November.
Burundi sent a ministerial delegation
to the last summit in Mombasa and
President Nkurunziza visited with
President Kenyatta a few days later on
what was said to be a private visit.
It could not be confirmed whether
Bujumbura or Dar es Salaam had been
invited to the Kigali summit.
Nation

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