US Special Envoy for Great Lakes to visit Tanzania, region

The 17th Summit of the EAC Heads of State is scheduled for Monday, 29th this month, according to the bloc’s secretariat calendar.

Before making the Arusha trip, Perriello’s stops include Luanda, Angola; Johannesburg, South Africa; Bujumbura, Burundi; Bukavu and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In Luanda, the special envoy is expected to attend the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Summit, where, as in Kinshasa, among other issues, he is expected to attend the Private Sector Investment Conference, a US Department of State statement said.

The United States is committed to supporting constitutional integrity regarding the scheduling and conduct of elections in the DRC, to include a peaceful electoral process that respects Congolese citizens’ freedoms of assembly and expression.

“The special envoy will meet with Congolese stakeholders to discuss how to move the electoral process forward,” the statement by the Department’s spokesperson noted, adding that the envoy will also raise US concerns over the DRC government’s treatment of political opposition and civil society, and the closing of political space more broadly.

On Burundi political crisis, the US Government continues to believe that the urgent resumption of a full-time, regionally mediated dialogue among all Burundian stakeholders is the best route for resolving the current crisis and restoring Burundi’s hard-won progress over the past decade.

The United States encourages the East African Community (EAC) to immediately identify a date for the resumption of the dialogue, building off the December 28 meeting in Entebbe, Uganda.

The envoy will engage with regional and Burundian stakeholders and EAC leadership about the next steps for advancing dialogue.
In addition, the US government strongly supports the African Union’s efforts to encourage the dialogue process and to deploy more human rights monitors to Burundi.