Conspiracies as to why EAC’s Secretary General Amb. Libérat Mpfumukeko is facing constant attacks

Written By Dr. Elie Nahimana

The opposition media in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura have in recent months taken a dislike to the newly-elected Secretary General of the EAC, Ambassador Libérat Mpfumukeko.

In equal measure, some large international organizations based in the Capital barely hide their support for this slander campaign against Mr. Mpfumukeko.

But why is this rage mounting against Mr. Mpfumukeko? Further to various consultations, here are some valid answers:

First answer:

It is clear that even before Amb. Mpfumukeko moved to the highest position in the EAC, a very sophisticated diplomatic and media campaign had been conducted at all levels to prevent Burundi from fulfilling its mandate at the EAC; some even had the nerve to suggest the extension of the mandate of the outgoing SG, Dr. Richard Sezibera, a Rwandan national.

The confirmation of the new EAC Secretary General from Burundi was therefore a very bitter pill to swallow.

Second answer:

The Burundian radical opposition in Rwanda and Belgium enjoyed and still relishes great support from Rwanda.

Under the influence of Kigali, the former SG of the EAC had stepped up his actions and established within the EAC a system to bring Bujumbura to its knees; several people at the EAC confirm that the Burundian file was managed by four officials of whom three are Rwandans and one Burundian, namely; Patrice Mulama, Steven Agaba, Benoît Bihamiriza and a Rwandan born in Uganda, Joseph Birungi.

Soon after the appointment of President Benjamin Mkapa as “Facilitator” by the Summit of Heads of EAC States in March this year, the former EAC SG attached to him a support team led by the Rwandan-Ugandan Joseph Birungi.

The stage was thus set for President Benjamin Mkapa to be almost a puppet which, for strategists and leaders of the radical opposition in Burundi, would have allowed them to collect some money from the Arusha negotiations as well as high-level political positions in Bujumbura without conducting elections.

The arrival of Libérat Mfumukeko however changed the situation.

Towards the end of April 2016, he appointed a new team to support President Mkapa; and it had neither Burundian nor Rwandan. So ended the mock reports and the propaganda that Dr Richard Sezibera, supported by the EAC African Peace & Security Architecture (APSA) project and other selected EAC staff members, used to submit to international organizations on the Burundi crisis.

“Except for the lies and dramatization of the situation, the parties and the other organizations of the radical Burundian opposition would no longer have arguments that hold water”, commented an African diplomat in Arusha.

Third answer:

Following consultations with the Heads of State who had appointed him, President Mkapa announced during a meeting held in early April 2016 with Jean Minani, Bernard Busokoza and Pancrace Cimpaye, that he would not invite the CNARED.

A source very close to the Facilitator indicated that during that meeting in Dar es Salaam, Mkapa was very clear: parties, organizations and individuals that are the subjects of an arrest warrant in Burundi are not welcome to the dialogue.

Not that the Facilitator did not want to see them (as he has met them on several occasions) but because he knows that the Government of Burundi would not tolerate their presence at the mediation forum. And negotiations without the Government and the Cndd-Fdd, would be meaningless.

The radical opposition does not still entertain the idea that the Government of Burundi was able to define pre-conditions for its participation in the negotiations; accepting it would mean that President Pierre Nkurunziza is stronger than them.

This is why some people, including the CNARED, have opted for the cooking of a credible lie for their activists: if they are not invited to Arusha, the EAC Secretary General would be the culprit!

After cross-checking with those who were invited to Arusha in May and July 2016, it is worth mentioning that the Secretary General of the EAC was never once in the room during the mediation sessions by President Mkapa. Yet, his predecessor attended all major meetings between the Government of Burundi and the parties and organizations opposed to him.

Fourth answer:

Some major international organizations have mobilized a lot of funds with a view to resolving the crisis in Burundi or to making a difference for the benefit of the radical opposition.

For the leaders of these organizations, as well as the countries hidden, EAC leadership in the mediation process is probably a major impediment to their professional and/or political ambitions.

Indeed, several millions of dollars were allocated within the UN to the resolution of the Burundi crisis, but the Office of the Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General, Jamal Benomar, has to date refused to give a penny to the EAC. Yet, the Security Council resolutions specify that the mediation process is led by EAC and request the United Nations and the African Union (AU) to support the EAC.

The United Nations, the AU and Burundi made a joint proposal to the EAC and President Mkapa extending their support on the condition that they are part of the mediation team. Now the only mediation anticipated is the one driven by the EAC member States!

Maybe if the EAC mediation “breaks its neck,” Mr Benomar would then deploy to Burundi over 40 employees he has already planned to hire and thereby extend his term of office. As the saying goes” One person’s misfortune is another person’s happiness!” Meanwhile we bash the mediation and EAC.

Fifth answer:

Several observers have noted, since the beginning of the crisis that the American Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Tom Perriello, is actively working against the leadership in Bujumbura.

“This is the distinct impression people have had after his press conferences and other public interventions”, points out a European diplomat based in Bujumbura. And some chanceries wonder whether the US Government has not appointed an activist instead of a diplomat.

However, few people know his affinities with the radical opposition in Burundi! Indeed, Tom Perriello has offered to help the mediation of President Mkapa on the condition that such support is channeled through the “Center for Humanitarian Dialogue” (CHD), an NGO based in Switzerland.

During the mediation session in Arusha in May 2016, Mr Perriello introduced the representatives of that NGO, including a Nkurikiye Freddy.

Affiliated with the former boss of the Intelligence Service of President Pierre Buyoya, the so-called Freddy is also the brother-in-law of the Legal Representative of the RPA Radio (co-founder of the radio with the opponent Alexis Sinduhije, etc.) and is the brother of journalist Sandrine Nkurikiye whose most famous image is the one where she is seated with General Godefroid Niyombare as he announced on RPA radio the May 2015 coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Furthermore, various concurring sources confirm the following fact: CHD conducted ‘capacity-building’ sessions for members of the CNARED before their meeting with President Mkapa in Brussels in June 2016, and then for the Burundian ‘civil society’ in order to prepare it for the mediation session held in Arusha in July 2016.

In short, several participants in the mediation sessions eventually wondered for whom were working Tom Perriello and some of his friends, including Danae Dholakia (UK Special Envoy for the Great Lakes and former Kigali resident – sic!), who, openly played the role of supervisors of the Burundian radical opposition right in the same building where President Mkapa was carrying out his duty.

Given all these machinations, it is clear that Perriello has taken over from Samantha Power. The latter was no longer able to directly help his old partner Alexis Sinduhije without creating suspicions of conflict of interest. In addition, such support would be very complicated, since Sinduhije is blacklisted by Washington.

Tom Perriello may therefore be playing intermediaries. Whether it is him, Samantha Power and their friends, they have never liked mediation by the EAC that does not promote the CNARED and other organizations of the radical opposition they support.

They are among those people who would like to torpedo it and move it to other organizations under their control.

If today the critics have not yet dared to openly attack Mkapa, the facilitator, it won’t probably be long in happening.

In the meantime, some would like first to try to dismantle the system developed for the mediation in order to weaken it. It is in this sense that the The EastAfrican magazine (very often used by Kigali and the Burundi radical opposition) has publicized the proposal put forward by certain actors to create an Independent Mediation Secretariat and thereby remove the EAC Secretariat.

How would this mediation process be led by the EAC, as required by the latest resolution of the Security Council, without its involvement? The scholars of the “divide and rule” will definitely come up with some answer.

The information provided in this Column do not reflect the views of the editor(s) or those of The African Business Fortune Ltd.

 

About the Author:
Elie NAHIMANA was born in the hills above Bujumbura, Burundi. He is married and has five children. For many years he worked as a builder of roads and bridges. Elie stayed in the country throughout the civil war that started in 1993.

In 1998 Elie was ordained as pastor within the Friends Church and was appointed to a church in his home community, Kibimba. He later completed a bachelor’s degree in Christian Leadership from the Great Lakes School of Theology.

Elie is a founding member of the Kibimba Peace Committee, President of the Board of the Great Lakes School of Theology, and Legal Representative (clerk) of the Friends Church of Burundi. In these different capacities, Elie works to foster peace and reconciliation among Burundian citizens as the country continues to recover from its devastating war.