BRUSSELS // The European Union, Burundi’s biggest aid donor, on Monday suspended all direct funding to the government for failing to meet EU concerns over its human-rights record.
“The situation in Burundi remains of serious concern for the EU ... Today’s decision makes clear that for our relations to be fully resumed we expect a number of concrete measures to be carried out,” EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said.
Burundi’s president Pierre Nkurunziza triggered the crisis last April when he announced a bid for a third term. The opposition said it was illegal and breached an accord ending a horrific 1993-2006 civil war which left 300,000 people dead. Mr Nkurunziza went on to win a disputed election in July, in the midst of street protests and violent clashes that have killed more than 400 people so far. Security forces, rebels and the opposition have blamed each other for the bloodshed.
The EU said the country had not done enough to find a political solution to the conflict.
The statement, endorsed by the 28 EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, said that while financial support for the government was being cut, the bloc would continue its separate funding for civil society and humanitarian assistance.
Direct support will resume after the government in Bujumbura expresses its backing for multiparty dialogue mediated by the East African Community.
EU aid programmes for Burundi over the period 2014-2020 are worth some €430 million (Dh1.75bn) and any threat to them would be serious for a very poor country beset by growing violence.
The EU has held talks with the government under the terms of the Cotonou agreement, which lays down strict rules for mutual cooperation including the promotion of human rights, and warned repeatedly that aid could be cut if there was no progress.
Mr Mogherini said the government should build on measures agreed with the African Union, the East African Community and the United Nations to work with the opposition and find “a durable political solution to the crisis”.
* Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Bloomberg
