Burundi President arrives in Kenya for Madaraka Day celebrations

By Our Correspondent, KISUMU Kenya

President of Burundi General Evariste Ndayishimiye has arrived in Kenya for a two-day state visit.

President Ndayishimiye, who landed in Kisumu on Monday morning, was accompanied by his wife Burundi First Lady Angeline Ndayubaha Ndayishimiye.

“The visiting Burundi Head of State and the First Lady will be received later today by their hosts, President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta at State Lodge, Kisumu,” State House said in a statement.

The Burundi President was received at the airport by Kenya's former Prime Minister and Chief opposition leader, Raila Odinga and Defence Cabinet Secretary Rachel Omamo.

President Ndayishimiye will be the guest of honour at the Madaraka Day celebrations to be held in Kisumu tomorrow.

President Ndayishimiye’s visit to Kenya will be his fifth outing since he assumed office. His first visit was on September 19, 2020, when he met with the late Tanzanian president John Pombe Magufuli in Kigoma, Tanzania.

In November 2020, he made a five-day state visit to Equatorial Guinea and this year he has travelled to Congo Brazzaville and Uganda.

His visit to Tanzania resulted in the two countries agreeing to build a railway to transport minerals from the capital Gitega to the port city of Dar es Salaam. 

The line is expected to run from Uvinza in western Tanzania to Gitega through Musongati, where the largest deposits of nickel are found.

The European Union and US imposed sanctions on Nkurunziza’s government after reports of human rights violations were documented by the UN.

The country is steadily getting back to international diplomacy and Burundi’s Foreign Affairs minister Albert Shingiro quoted saying that the withdrawal of the country from the agenda of the Security Council, lifting of sanctions by certain international organisations, the resumption of dialogue with the EU, the thawing of relations with regional countries have put Gitega back on the right track.

A statement from State House said that Kenya and Burundi co-operate in various areas of socioeconomic and political development anchored on the Joint Permanent Commission for Cooperation signed in May 2008, as the main framework of bilateral co-operation.