East African leaders will meet on Sunday at a special summit to discuss the crisis in Burundi, where police and protesters continue to clash on the streets of the capital and the opposition has boycotted peace talks.
Emergency #EACSummit of Heads of State on #Burundi scheduled for the 31st May, 2015 in Dar, TZ. Min/CS meet on 30th pic.twitter.com/yVuh9KtZNb
— East African Community (@jumuiya) May 25, 2015
The EAC said in a tweet late on Monday that another summit would be held on Sunday, with ministers holding talks on Saturday.
Nkurunziza’s office said it was unclear if the president would travel to the summit, in Dar es Salaam. Reuters reported.
Presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho said that it was too soon to know whether the president would be going but said he would be represented.
The protests, which started on April 26, are part of the biggest political crisis since an ethnically-charged civil war ended in 2005.
At least 20 people have been killed in clashes between the police and protesters who say Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term violates the constitution. The president’s supporters disagree, and say a constitutional court ruling allows him to run.
The opposition boycotted talks after one of its leaders was murdered on Saturday.
The current unrest has prompted more than 110,000 Burundians to flee into neighboring Rwanda, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo for fear that violence will spread outside the capital.
