South Sudan president Salva Kiir Mayardit this Friday landed at Melchior Ndadaye International Airport in Bujumbura where he is expected to meet Burundi president Evariste Ndayishimiye to address the growing tension between Burundi-Rwanda relations and the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is the first time the South Sudan president Salva Kiir is visiting Burundi as the Chairman of the Heads of State Summit recently took over from Burundi last year.
“President Paul Kagame and his counterpart from South Sudan encouraged the EAC led Nairobi Process and the Luanda process to avert the unfolding dire security situation in eastern DRC which risks spill over into neighboring partner states,” a statement reads from the EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki after South Sudan president ended his visit in Kigali, Rwanda.
President Salva Kiir was received in Bujumbura by the Burundi EAC affairs minister Gervais Abayeho at the Melchior Ndadaye international airport from where he will be heading to the State House (Ntare House) to meet his counterpart before embarking to Kinshasa where he is expected to meet the DRC president Felix Antoine Tshisekedi.
Burundi and Rwanda relations hit an all-time all last year after Gitega accused Rwanda of financing, sheltering and training the Red Tabara rebel group that attacked the country in Gatumba in December 2023 killing at least 20 people.
In January this year Burundi government closed its borders with the neighboring Rwanda, leaving only air transport the only means to travel to Rwanda from Burundi and vice versa.