The East African Community takes on the Burundi crisis

What role can the EAC play in solving the Burundi crisis? This report offers recommendations ahead of September’s summit for EAC heads of state.

Since 2014, the East African Community has been a key player in attempts to resolve the ongoing instability in Burundi.

The organisation recognised early on that a crisis was looming, but it waited too long to act at the highest level and was unable to affect key aspects of the crisis, such as the elections in June and July 2015.

The coup attempt of 13 May 2015, as EAC heads of state were discussing the crisis at an EAC summit in Dar es Salaam, widened splits along political lines between the member states and undermined a coherent stance and policies on Burundi.

The most successful aspects of the EAC’s intervention may be the initiative for a dialogue between key Burundian parties – but nearly two years after it was first mooted, it has yet to make tangible progress.