John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the government of Burundi on political violence in that country.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK Government remains deeply concerned about the political situation in Burundi and the allegations of horrific human rights abuses against its people.
Our Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, Danae Dholakia, met with several Burundian government Ministers alongside her French counterpart in Bujumbura in June; and met with the Burundian Foreign Minister in Arusha in mid-July. In July we deployed a permanent UK Diplomat to Bujumbura to increase our engagement.
We support the East African Community (EAC) led dialogue process mediated by former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa and have been present through our Special Envoy at each round of the dialogue so far, engaging directly with all parties.
We have also been working with partners to ensure that the international response is robust. We supported the suspension of EU aid direct to the government last March. We imposed EU sanctions on individuals accused of human rights abuses. We agreed UN Security Council Resolutions, including UNSCR 2303 which mandates a UN police force. We pushed for a strong Burundi resolution in the Human Rights Council on 27 September and welcome its establishment of a Commission of Enquiry. Burundi is a UK priority country for human rights work in 2016.
