Burundi eases tension after expulsion of UN official

Burundian External Relations and International Cooperation Minister Laurent Kavakure Tuesday met with a UN official to discuss the expulsion last week of another diplomat caught carrying arms at Bujumbura International Airport. The meeting was an attempt to ease the tension following the incident. “Our strategic co-operation shouldn’t suffer because an incident. The case is being processed in a collaborative spirit that has always characterised us,” said Kavakure at a joint press conference with Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office in Burundi (BNUB), Parfait Onanga-Anyanga. Onanga-Anyanga said his meeting with Kavakure was to assess the level of their cooperation which is “excellent”. “We are enjoying excellent cooperation and this is a good sign for Burundi’s 2015 elections that we hope will be democratic,” said Onanga-Anyanga. On June 3, the Burundian government gave 48 hours to Abednego Mutua, a UN security agent of a Kenyan citizenship, to leave the Burundian territory after he was caught carrying two chargers filled with ammunition at Bujumbura International Airport, on May 25, as he was to take his flight. But BNUB Spokesman Vladimir Monteiro deplored Mutua’s expulsion, arguing that the sanction was “disproportionate” because Mutua had “mistakenly” carried the two chargers with ammunition in his handbag when he was going in a hurry to the airport. Mutua is the second UN official expelled from Burundi in less than two months. On April 17, the Burundian government declared UN Burundi Chief Security Adviser Paul Dobbie persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country. Dobbie was accused of attempting to destabilize the East African nation.