War in Burundi Likely to Hurt East African Economy

The war in Burundi rages on and this is likely to hurt the economy of the East African Community in general according to economic experts.

In a span of one week, more than 90 people have been killed with BBC reporting that dead bodies are still scattered in the streets of Bujumbura, the capital city of Burundi.

Clashes broke out in Burundi after President Pierre Nkurunziza refused to relinquish power and opted to run for a third term in an election that was largely boycotted by the opposition.

Tanzania was the first East African country to feel the heat of the clashes with over 20,000 refugees having crossed over from Burundi into Tanzania. More than 10,000 other refugees are said to have crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Kenya, already Kenya Airways has canceled its flights to Burundi with the government of Kenya planning on how to move Kenyans in Burundi back to Kenya.

Burundi is one of the East African countries that had been integrated with Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to jointly construct a railway line that would link the countries to the port of Mombasa.

The countries had set up a number of multibillion dollar projects that included building of new roads, construction of a railway line as well as construction of an oil pipeline that would run across the countries as well as linking them to the East African export hub, Mombasa.

Among the trade routes that were to be developed, Bujumbura, the capital city of Burundi was among them.

The clashes in Burundi comes just after the nation had emerged from a lasting civil war in the year 2005.

What has baffled many people, however, is not the conflict itself but the silence of the African Union (AU) over the issue.

The current chair of the African Union is President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence.

Many people especially on the social media have referred to the AU as a SACCO made up of African presidents through which they use to drive their own personal agendas including wanting to pull out of the International Criminals Court (ICC) with a common African having little to benefit from it.

Article by Juma Fred.