S/PV.7174 Security Council

In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representative of Burundi to participate in this meeting. On behalf of the Council, I welcome His Excellency Mr. Edouard Nduwimana, Minister of the Interior of Burundi, who is joining today’s meeting via video- teleconference from Bujumbura. In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite Mr. Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office in Burundi, to participate in this meeting. On behalf of the Council, I welcome Mr. Onanga- Anyanga, who is also joining today’s meeting via video-teleconference from Bujumbura. Under rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite His Excellency Mr. Paul Seger, Permanent Representative of Switzerland and Chair of the Burundi configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission, to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I give the floor to Mr. Onanga-Anyanga. Mr. Onanga-Anyanga: It gives me pleasure, Sir, to see you presiding over the Council for the month of May. Congratulations to you and your country, the Republic of Korea. I am here today with His Excellency Mr. Edouard Nduwimana, Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Burundi, and other senior Government officials, including the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of External Relations, Ambassador Albert Shingiro. Allow me to greet Ambassador Niyonzima, Permanent Representative of Burundi to the United Nations, and Ambassador Paul Seger, Chair of the Burundi configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). Given that the Council has been closely monitoring the situation in Burundi over the past few weeks, I will limit my briefing to only a few significant developments. During the reporting period, the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB) made progress on its mandated tasks, including promoting and facilitating dialogue; strengthening judicial and parliamentary institutions; supporting the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms; and promoting the protection of human rights. In addition, pursuant to resolution 2137 (2014), BNUB began the process of transitioning to a United Nations country team. I was asked to prepare and submit to the Security Council a joint transition plan by 15 May. I am pleased to report that, thanks to the outstanding cooperation and support of the Government of Burundi and the keen participation of all members of the transition steering group, we have been able to meet that important goal. The plan, which contains details on the transition, including the transfer of tasks to the relevant stakeholders and on possible gaps following BNUB’s withdrawal, is before the Council today. In many ways, this is a historic moment, as it marks the beginning of the end of a stand-alone United Nations political presence in Burundi in order to focus on development activities through a strengthened United Nations country team. (spoke in French) Burundi has made considerable progress since the signing of the Arusha accords. That has enabled the country to leave behind its murderous conflict, which has killed its people for many decades. In general, security prevails throughout the national territory, even if there is a relatively growing number of grenade attacks and incursions by armed elements. Burundi has become an important troop contributor to peacekeeping operations. That has won it the admiration and appreciation of all as a result of the successful reform of its national forces. Burundi can also be congratulated on its strong representation of women in political life. On the socioeconomic front, the Government’s actions are guided by the ambitious strategic framework — the second poverty reduction strategy paper, which the international community supports, in particular through the Geneva conferences and with the valuable support of Ambassador Seger. Furthermore, a significant reform process is under way to clean up the private sector and to promote private investment, which is key to development. That remains one of Burundi’s major challenges, in particular in the area of youth unemployment. However, a certain number of concerns remain. On the political front, the situation is still tense. Mistrust and a lack of constructive and inclusive dialogue between the Government and opposition parties do not help matters. The political space remains limited. The Government insists on the need to respect the laws in place, while the opposition, civil society associations and the media condemn the represssive laws. Unfortunately, it must be recognized that such a context is not conducive to respect for and the best protection of human rights. Moreover, with the approaching electoral period, there is a trend towards political violence and clashes among youths affiliated with political parties, which reflects the prevailing hostile political climate. That phenomenon is of particular concern since it also affects young supporters of the ruling party. I encourage the Government to persevere in its efforts to counter such agitation. In order to prevent deterioration, we have in particular to recommended that the authorities strengthen initiatives to promote better political governance through dialogue and tolerance, while putting an end to impunity. However, it is also urgent to continue efforts to significantly reduce the security risk posed by illicit weapon flows. Mistrust, which is dividing the Burundi political class, has been evident since the negotiations and the adoption in April of the law establishing a truth and reconciliation commission. It is regrettable that the adoption of that important law to set up transitional justice mechanisms has not made it possible to overcome sectarian divisions. We must now do our utmost to prevent such differences from compromising the credibility and the functioning of the commission and from casting doubt over the long-term prospect for reconciliation towards a stronger national cohesion. Despite such worrisome factors, mentioned here to demonstrate the extent of the path to cover, I remain confident about the capacity of Burundian political actors to overcome their differences and together deal with their common challenges. They must overcome the political intolerance within and among the political parties and accept diverging views without creating enemies. That is still possible. The adoption on 25 April of the new electoral code, which reflects the recommendations of the March 2013 consensus road map and the conclusions of the Kayanza workshop on the May 2013 electoral code, is a step in the right direction in that regard. All actors should commit to preserving the prevailing spirit of consensus at the time of adopting the electoral code in order to restore mutual confidence, improve the political climate and establish suitable conditions for free, transparent, inclusive and peaceful elections in 2015. It is crucial that Burundians and Burundi maintain the calm. Despite the difficult outlook and their immense challenges, they possess all the advantages to build a rich and promosing future that is free of violence. (spoke in English) As the Council can see, there are reasons to believe that, with the right amount of political will from all political actors and the implementation of courageous and just measures, Burundi can stay the course and avoid a reversal of its commendable gains. I am optimistic that the upcoming workshop being jointly organized by the Government of Burundi and BNUB, due to take place on 20 May in implementation of the March 2013 road map, will help to further advance dialogue and improve the political environment ahead of the 2015 elections, including averting political violence. BNUB is determined to do its utmost up to the end of its mandate in December. We are committed to helping advance the cause of peace and respect for human rights and democratic values, consistent with the aspirations of the Government and people of Burundi. That is the strong foundation upon which lays the partnership that binds together the United Nations and the Government of Burundi. It entails working together to proactively address any potentially damaging threat to peace and security in Burundi. We are grateful to the Government of Burundi for its continued collaboration. I would like to sincerely thank the Chair of the Burundi configuration of the PBC, my dear friend Ambassador Paul Seger, for his excellent cooperation and support to the Government and people of Burundi. Allow me also to express our gratitude to Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, who has tirelessly led us in shouldering our responsibilities. We could not have been better guided than by Under-Secretary-General Feltman and his team from the Department of Political Affairs.

I thank Mr. Onanga-Anyanga for his briefing. I now give the floor to Mr. Seger.

Allow me first of all to thank the Council for having invited me to this briefing, I would also like to thank the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, and his entire team for their outstanding work with regard not only to the transition plan that he has just presented but also their tireless efforts in balancing the dual burden of continuing to implement the mandate of the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB) until the end of the year and of ensuring a smooth transfer of BNUB’s remaining tasks to the country team. I also take this opportunity to welcome the Minister of the Interior and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of External Relations and to the Government of Burundi for its very constructive and positive cooperation thoughout our relationship. I will limit my statement today to two points. First, I will sum up the essential aspects of the configuration’s efforts to assist Burundi, in particular in the light of the current situation, and to inform the Council about my upcoming visit to the region from 21 May to 1 June. Secondly, I will raise the idea of convening a follow- up meeting to the Geneva conference of 2012 to assess progress in the implementation of the second poverty reduction strategy paper and the mutual commitments agreed upon at the meeting in Geneva. As the Council has heard, the current situation in Burundi is difficult and tense. Without dwelling on developments since the adoption of resolution 2137 (2014), which the Council has followed closely by meeting three times in closed consultations, I now note a growing lack of trust on two levels. Internally, the perspective of the 2015 elections is giving rise to a significantly increased tension. Exacerbated by an absence of dialogue, the political space is clearly limited, leading to mutual mistrust between the ruling party and the opposition parties. In the same vein, recent events on the political front in Burundi have raised great concern at the international level, as underscored by the various statements and visits by bilateral and multilateral partners and institutions. The international community’s increased attention to Burundi clearly demonstrates its strong bond with the country and its people. We have to further intensify our common efforts in favour of a frank and open — but also respectful and friendly — dialogue between Burundi and its partners. I have therefore focused my efforts of recent months on exploring options for ending the current impasse while continuing to appeal for a smooth transition towards the post-BNUB phase and beyond. In that context, I met with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark, high- level officials from the Department of Political Affairs, a ministerial delegation from Burundi and a few bilateral partners. Administrator Clark has assured me of UNDP’s full commitment to continuing the work of peacebuilding after BNUB’s departure. I also had the pleasure of participating in the first two meetings of the transition steering group via video-teleconference. Furthermore, following the configuration’s meeting on 12 March, I continued my informal exchanges with key configuration members to share our respective analyses and cooperate with the Government through its Permanent Representative in New York. Yesterday, I also met with the World Bank Vice President for Africa, Mr. Makhtar Diop. I will come back to that visit later. As BNUB’s mandate is coming to an end, as we know, on 31 December, I intend to continue to engage in dialogue with the various stakeholders over the coming months to ensure continued or even increased political commitment on the part of the international partners in Burundi. The countries of the subregion have a central role to play. I welcome the efforts of neighbouring States and regional organizations in the context of the current situation and call upon them to become even further involved. Given recent developments, the Burundian Government has invited me to move my visit up to the month of May. I have gladly complied and have planned my visit for 21 May to 1 June. Contrary to my usual practice, I will stay in Bujumbura for only two days and will devote some of my time to visits to Brussels, Paris, Kigali and Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania. The goal of my stopovers in Europe and Burundi’s neighbouring States is to discuss recent developments with high-level representatives from the various countries and regional organizations, in particular the European Union and the East African Community, in order to explore the best options to engage with Burundi and define their respective roles, in particular after BNUB’s departure. In my opinion, that last point is of particular importance, given that Burundi’s partners will have to fill the gaps left by BNUB’s withdrawal. Indeed, the transition plan just presented by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General clearly reflects those gaps. My initial intention was to include Addis Ababa and Dar Es Salaam in my itinerary in order to meet with African Union and Tanzanian officials, but due to time constraints I was unable to do so. I will, however, make up for that on one of my upcoming trips, during which I will also seek to enhance my contacts with other important partners in the region, in particular Kenya and Uganda. The programme for my two-day stay in Bujumbura is being finalized, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank BNUB’s staff in advance for their preparatory work. As usual, I will meet with high- level representatives from the Government, including, I hope, the President, and representatives of various political parties, civil society and the international community. I also plan to participate in the first meeting of the joint steering committee that will support the implementation of the Peacebuilding Fund’s new priority plan, which has been allotted $11.65 million and covers four priority areas: social cohesion, youth, human rights and property development. My upcoming trip has a more concrete objective as well. Within the configuration, we have been discussing the idea of convening a roundtable meeting as a follow-up to the 2012 Geneva conference. That issue was also at the core of yesterday’s discussion in Washington, D.C., with Assistant Secretary-General Judy Cheng-Hopkins and the World Bank’s Vice President for Africa, Mr. Makhtar Diop. The Geneva conference, as the Council knows, was organized on the basis of the principle of mutual commitments and responsibilities. International partners committed to supporting Burundi financially within the framework of the second poverty reduction strategy, and Burundi committed to embarking on important reforms in the political and the socioeconomic sectors. We must admit that the Geneva conference’s momentum has slowed over the past few months and given way to an increasing lack of trust, as I mentioned at the beginning of my statement. We have reached the midpoint of the second poverty reduction strategy, and that provides us with an opportunity to come together again and take stock of the mutual commitments undertaken in Geneva. Such a meeting would have several objectives: to counter the risk of an economic and political relapse; to rekindle what I would call “the spirit of Geneva”; and to review the progress in the implementation of the second poverty reduction strategy and the mutual commitments. Ideally, the roundtable meeting would take place sooner rather than later — namely, in the summer or early autumn — and would include a limited number of high-level representatives of the main partners and the Government in order to encourage open communication in an informal setting. Finally, such a roundtable would also respond to the Council’s call contained in paragraph 19 of resolution 2137 (2014) of 13 February. During the informal discussions, high-level representatives of the Burundian Government supported the idea of such a roundtable. I thus intend to officially present this idea during my exchanges in Burundi, so as to then present a concept paper to the concerned stakeholders. As per usual, I will send a report on my visit to the Council. Given its painful history, Burundi has made remarkable progress towards stability in a very short period of time. We must stay the course and prevent any backsliding into the past. The international community’s involvement in Burundi is still very much needed — perhaps now more than ever. It is in this spirit that I welcome the attention the Security Council is giving to the situation in Burundi. It is now up to us, as Burundi’s partners, to pick up the BNUB torch and consolidate its extraordinary achievements by enhancing our involvement. The joint expressions of concern by the Council and other forums regarding recent developments, in my opinion, have above all shown that the international community cares about Burundi. In my view, that is an important message that we must build on.

I thank Mr. Seger for his briefing. I now give the floor to the Minister of the Interior of Burundi.

I too wish to greet, on behalf of the Government of Burundi, all the members of the Security Council, and in particular you, Mr. President. I congratulate you on your country’s accession to the presidency of the Council for this month. I would like to begin my statement by recalling that, on 13 February, the Security Council adopted resolution 2137 (2014), by which the mandate of the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB) is to come to an end by 31 December 2014 in order to effect a transfer of responsibilities to a United Nations country team. The resolution calls on the Government of Burundi, BNUB, the Peacebuilding Commission and bilateral and multilateral partners to create a transitional steering group to draw up a plan for international support to Burundi after BNUB’s final departure and the establishment of the country team, and requests the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to draw up a transition plan by 15 May 2014. The Council also urged BNUB to carry out its mandate, the core of which is laid out in resolution 2090 (2013), and which covers the following main points: promoting and facilitating dialogue between national actors and supporting the mechanisms for broad-based participation in political life, including those aimed at ensuring a conducive, free and open environment for the run-up to the 2015 elections; strengthening the independence of judicial and parliamentary institutions; supporting efforts to fight impunity, particularly through the establishment of independent and impartial transitional justice mechanisms; promoting and protecting human rights; and supporting the efforts of the Government and the international community to focus on the socioeconomic development of women and youth and the socioeconomic reintegration of conflict- affected populations. In addition, resolution 2137 (2014) calls for BNUB and its international partners to support the Government of Burundi in making the reforms necessary for improving the political, economic and administrative climate, for professionalizing the defence and security forces, and for creating an environment conducive to implementing constitutional reforms with the involvement of the political parties and all the relevant stakeholders, while also establishing transitional justice mechanisms such as a credible and agreed-on national truth and reconciliation commission. As has already been stated many times, including in the General Assembly at the start of the work of transitioning from the United Nations Office in Burundi to the country team in March, the Government of Burundi is aware that the programme I have just mentioned constitutes the be-all and end-all of these activities and concerns, and has continued to improve on the results that have already been achieved in the aforementioned areas. These are also laid out in most of the principal strategic programme tools in Vision Burundi 2025 and the second Strategic Framework for Growth and the Fight against Poverty, as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General mentioned. With regard to the 2015 elections, which require the creation of a conducive environment before, during and after, the Government has already met part of its obligations, as evidenced by the holding of a workshop that produced the electoral road map adopted in March 2013, organized by the United Nations Office in Burundi and the United Nations system, in close coordination with the Government of Burundi. We should also note that the road map is being fully implemented, primarily through the holding of a meeting in Kayanza and through broad consultations open to all, in the spirit of the 2000 Arusha accords, organized on 19 and 20 December in Kigobé by the Burundian Parliament, which were commended by all the actors involved for being constructive and broadly representative, and which culminated in the adoption of an agreed-on electoral code which was recently enacted by Parliament. Concerning the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission in accordance with resolution 1606 (2005) and the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi of 28 August 2000, and as a result of the technical work and national consultations held in 2009, it should be noted that remarkable progress was achieved with Parliament’s enactment in April of a law on the subject. The members of these structures will be nominated very shortly and their nomination will take into account the requirements of the relevant Security Council resolutions. I cannot conclude this statement without mentioning the third phase of the priority peacebuilding plan for Burundi, to which the Peacebuilding Support Office has just approved the allocation of $11.65 million. I should add that the budget is part of the support package provided to Burundi by the Peacebuilding Fund, amounting to $50 million over the past few years and covering the first two phases of peacebuilding in my country. The areas covered in the plan are focused on Government programmes, including those directed towards social cohesion and political dialogue, young people’s participation in political and social life, reconciliation initiatives, the democratic exercise of human rights and the peaceful settlement of land disputes. I take this opportunity to request that all the funds pledged to the implementation of all these programmes be speedily released so that the people concerned can benefit from them as soon as possible. Regarding the joint plan of transition from the United Nations to Burundi, I wish to confirm that it reflects a permanent arrangement between the Government and the United Nations Office in Burundi. The content of the document and the establishment of the transition steering group have been carried out in accordance with paragraph 3 of resolution 2137 (2014), whose main goal is to provide high-level strategic direction aimed at implementing the resolution, including by facilitating the transition process and supporting the effective fulfilment of the mandate of the United Nations Office in Burundi through 31 December. The Government would like to take this opportunity to thank the Special Representatives of the United Nations in Burundi, and its other bilateral and multilateral partners involved in significant activities in the transition process in the five priority areas of the joint transition plan, for their willing collaboration, and to thank them in advance for their efforts in implementing it. It should be recalled that the programmes covered include democracy, governance and institution-building; human rights and transitional justice; the rule of law, security and stability; and economic and social development. The Government of Burundi would again like to thank the United Nations and its bilateral and multilateral partners for their commitment to supporting the Government’s programme for the comprehensive development of the Burundian people. For its part, the Government will spare no effort in fulfilling the role assigned to it. In taking this road, hand in hand we will leave behind and conquer the poverty that has dogged and bemired the people of Burundi.

There are no more names inscribed on the list of speakers. I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion on the subject.