VZCZCXYZ0025
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJB #0467/01 1761527
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251527Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0392
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS BUJUMBURA 000467 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/C AND PRM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD PHUM PINR PREF PREL BY
SUBJECT: BURUNDI HOSTS TANZANIAN PRESIDENT 
 
REF: A. BUJUMBURA 454 
     ¶B. BUJUMBURA 466 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete made his 
first state visit to Burundi June 19-21 in answer to 
President Nkurunziza's November 2006 visit to Tanzania. 
Kikwete's visit immediately followed talks in Dar-Es-Salaam 
between President Nkurunziza and FNL leader Agathon Rwasa. 
Tanzanian officials in Bujumbura denied that Kikwete's visit 
was related, noting that the trip had been planned for 
several months.  President Kikwete told the Burundian media 
that with the return of peace and security in Burundi, 
refugees in Tanzania should begin returning to their homes in 
Burundi, but insisted that the decision to leave was not 
Tanzania's alone.  He also visited a sugar-processing facilty 
in Rutana province, calling for increased international 
cooperation between Burundi and Tanzania in this field. 
Although some Burundians expresed discontent with the 
magnitude of Burundi's official response to Kikwete's visit, 
worrying about its social and economic costs, most recognized 
the opportunities in welcoming the president of one of their 
most important neighbors. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, in his first 
head-of-state visit to Burundi since assuming office in 
December 2005, met officially with Burundian President Pierre 
Nkurunziza and other high-ranking officials during his 
three-day stay.  According to Tanzanian Embassy officials, 
the June 19-21 visit was an opportunity for President Kikwete 
to reciprocate the November 2006 visit by President 
Nkurunziza to Tanzania.  Alex Rutatangwa, Acting Deputy Chief 
of Mission at the Tanzanian mission in Bujumbura, reminded 
Emboff in a June 24 meeting that President Kikwete made 
official visits to other states in the region following his 
assumption of office in late December 2005.  Rutatangwa 
stated that President Kikwete did not include Burundi in his 
official visits at that time so as not to interfere in 
ongoing talks between the new government of President 
Nkurunziza and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL (FNL). 
 
¶3. (SBU) President Kikwete's state visit immediately followed 
meetings between Nkurunziza and FNL leader Agathon Rwasa held 
in Dar-Es-Salaam (Reftels) on June 17.  Rutatanga referred to 
the timing of Kikwete's visit to Bujumbura as a "fortuitous 
coincidence", stating that the dates of the visit were, of 
course, set several months in advance.  He said that 
President Kikwete did not arrive in Burundi with an formal 
agenda for bilateral discussions with President Nkurunziza, 
but acknowledged that the "fortuitous coincidence" of the 
meetings in Dar-Es-Salaam with Kikwete's visit brought the 
issue to the forefront.  Rutatangwa did not divulge details 
of their discussions on the peace process. 
 
¶4. (U) Responding to questions from the media, President 
Kikwete addressed the anticipated December 2007 return of 
more than 150,000 Burundian refugees living in Tanzanian 
camps since 1993.  He  pointed out that while the refugees 
were in Tanzania for security reasons, having fled the 
decade-long war, they could now return safely to Burundi due 
to its growing peace and improved security.  Noting the 
lessening security concerns which once forced the refugees to 
flee to Tanzania, Kikwete asked why these Burundians would 
want to continue living in refugee camps in Tanzania, even 
joking that "President Nkurunziza was yesterday a leader of 
the rebel movement, but he is now the President of the 
Republic."  However, he indicated that it was not Tanzania 
alone who would decide the repatriation of the refugees 
living there, but the Tripartite Commission of Burundi, 
Tanzania, and the High Commission for Refugees.  Kikwete 
added, though, that should a former refugee choose to stay in 
Tanzania, all legal procedures concerning naturalization must 
be followed. 
 
¶5. (U) President Kikwete also toured a sugar-processing 
facility in Rutana province, along the frontier with 
Tanzania's Kigoma province.  The object of his visit to the 
Mosso Sugar Company (SOSUMO) factory was to investigate the 
potential for increased Burundian-Tanzanian cooperation in 
the cultivation and procesing of sugar cane, one of Burundi's 
most important agricultural products.  Kikwete asked the 
Governor of Rutana to make contact with his counterpart in 
Kigoma, whom he called on to cede land to SOSOMU for 
increased sugar cane production. 
 
¶6. (U) Comment. Kikwete is the most senior leader to visit 
Burundi since Nkurunziza assumed office in August 2005. 
Although thousands of Burundians lined the streets of 
Bujumbura to welcome President Kikwete, some civil society 
members complained that the  massive mobilization was forced, 
and suggested a return to the years of dictatorship and 
one-party rule.  As reported by Radio Isanganiro, the vice 
president of the Observatory on Governmental Action, a 
Burundian NGO that promotes good governance, worried that the 
grand welcome and parade-like atmosphere impeded vital public 
services.  She expressed concern that the welcome 
unnecessarily drained the public treasury at a time of 
economic troubles. In general, though, most Burundians are 
pleased with the presidential visit of one of their most 
important neighbors, particularly now that Burundi is joining 
itself economically to the East African Community.  Even if 
this visit was just one of reciprocity, Burundi benefits by 
staying close to this large, and vitally important, partner. 
End Comment. 
MOLLER