Regional leaders extend President Magufuli's term as chairperson of the EAC summit for another year
Announcing the decision here, host president John Magufuli said it was based on intensive deliberations by the EAC Council Of Ministers which had a week-long closed meeting on the subject.
It came hot on the heels of a recent United Nations report which suggested that the Security Council places an arms embargo on South Sudan, while the country’s president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar be sanctioned over atrocities jointly committed during a two-year civil war.
The political dispute between Kiir and his rival Machar, who was once the president’s deputy, sparked the civil war which has so far claimed more than 10,000 lives and reopened ethnic fault lines between Kiir’s Dinka and Machar’s Nuer tribes.
“This (EAC) is where we belong and not elsewhere,” remarked a clearly delighted James Wanni Igga, South Sudan’s second vice president, after Magufuli’s announcement here.
Igga said his country had applied for admission to EAC immediately after gaining its independence in 2011, and was very happy to have been accepted at last.
“Our presence will bring much benefit to the community, and we are ready to adopt all principles and policies as envisaged in the EAC Treaty,” he added.
Meanwhile, former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa has been named the facilitator for peace talks in troubled Burundi. Magufuli told the Summit that Mkapa would discharge this duty under the leadership of Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni.
Last year, the United States questioned Uganda’s commitment to the Burundi peace process after Museveni relegated his role as EAC mediator in the crisis to the backburner while he concentrated on his re-election campaign back home.
But Uganda's state minister for international affairs Henry Okello Oryem quickly responded, saying Museveni was maintaining a keen eye on the Burundi situation through regular intelligence briefs.
Mkapa was instrumental in brokering a peace deal in Kenya when the country was engrossed in post- election violence that erupted in 2007.
At the same time, apparently impressed by his work rate, the EAC heads of state yesterday extended Magufuli’s term as chairperson of the Summit for another year.
Magufuli was to relinquish his seat to Burundi after staying at the EAC helm for hardly five months since being elected Tanzanian president last October, taking over from his predecessor Jakaya Kikwete.
Magufuli will now continue leading the Summit for another full year until his term expires at the next Summit.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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