AU condemns assassination of Burundian military general

The African Union (AU) has condemned the assassination on Monday of Brigadier General Athanase Kararuza, Senior Security Adviser in the office of the Vice President of Burundi.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, has strongly condemned the assassination of the Brigadier General, said an AU statement on Tuesday.

The late Brigadier General was also former Deputy Force Commander of the African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA) and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in CAR (MINUSCA), recalled the statement.

The late Brigadier General's wife perished in the attack and his daughter was severely injured, noted the statement.

The Chairperson has presented AU's sincere condolences to the family of the deceased and wished speedy recovery to his daughter.

"This despicable act and the numerous other acts of violence recorded in recent months illustrate, once again, the seriousness of the situation prevailing in Burundi and the potential of further escalation, with catastrophic consequences both for the country and the region," said Dlamini-Zuma.

In this context, the Chairperson has reaffirmed AU's total rejection of violence and condemned all abuses of human rights and other violations of civil liberties.

She has called for a transparent and credible investigation to identify the perpetrators of the murders and swiftly bring them to justice.

The Chairperson is also particularly concerned about the tone and content of recent communiqués of the Burundian ruling party CNDD-FDD and inflammatory declarations made by some Burundian political leaders, and she has called on all stakeholders to refrain from such divisive statements.

She has further called on the Burundian parties to refrain from any actions or statements that could threaten peace and stability in the country and the region.

The Chairperson has reiterated that only genuine and truly inclusive dialogue, without preconditions, based on the letter and the spirit of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement (Arusha Accords) and the Constitution of Burundi, would allow the Burundian stakeholders to overcome the serious difficulties facing the country.

The Chairperson also reiterated AU's commitment to supporting the Burundian political dialogue process in close coordination with the East African Community (EAC) and other partners.

She has welcomed the announcement by the EAC facilitator, former Tanzania's President Benjamin Mkapa, of the resumption of mediation efforts on 2-6 May 2016 in Arusha, Tanzania, and urged all Burundian parties to fully cooperate with the mediator.

Source: XINHUA