FR - Le Réseau européen pour l’Afrique centrale (EurAc) et ses membres condamnent l’inquiétante escalade des violences ces derniers jours au Burundi et tiennent à exprimer leur solidarité aux organisations de la société civile burundaise.
En avril et mai 2015, quelques jours seulement auront suffi à éradiquer presque complètement le pluralisme d’un paysage médiatique burundais reconnu pour son professionnalisme et cité en exemple en Afrique : cinq radios et une télévision indépendantes ont été détruites, près d’une centaine de journalistes, menacés, ont été contraints à l’exil. Alors que le Burundi continue d’être déchiré par des violences quotidiennes, et que les messages de haine se banalisent, le besoin du peuple burundais d’accéder à une information pluraliste et crédible est chaque jour plus urgent.
The processes of peace, stabilization and development in the Great Lakes region in Africa are confronted with numerous obstacles. The political and security tensions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) represent a threat to stability, security and development for the region as a whole. A number of international actors including the European union (EU) and the United nations (UN) have been playing an active role in terms of support to the development of Security Sector Reform (SSR), protection of civilians, security and stabilization programmes.
With this new position statement, the European network for Central Africa (EurAc) wishes to draw the attention of European political decision-makers, at all levels of power, to the gravity and the risks of the situation in the DRC. The next step is to provide them with action plans, on the one hand for the adoption of strong and urgent measures to prevent this crisis leading to a serious escalation of violence and a regional security crisis, and on the other to support the electoral process in such a way as to bring the country out of the current stalemate. These action plans stem from an assessment of the current political situation and the security risks in the DRC, and the responses that the EU and its Member States have provided so far and those that they should strengthen in order to prevent a further escalation of violence and new abuses in the DRC.
As Burundian, African and international NGOs deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Burundi, EurAc strongly urges the UN Security Council to authorize the deployment of a robust police protection and monitoring presence as soon as possible.
