The session is schedule for 16th – 18th February 2017, at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC).
The convening of the session follows rigorous consultations the Facilitator made with various stakeholders within and outside Burundi, after which he identified an Eight-point Agenda raised by all stakeholders and agreed to be the main sticking points which he reported to the Summit in September 2016.
This Eight-point Agenda, which will form the thrust of the dialogue and subsequent negations, in no particular order of importance, includes: Security and commitment to end all forms of violence; Commitment to the Rule of Law and an end to impunity; Status of the implementation of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement; Strengthening of Democratic Culture and Opening up of Political Space; Social and Humanitarian Issues.
Others are, Implementation of the EAC Summit Decision of July 6th, 2015 on the Formation of the Government of National Unity; Impact of the Crisis on the Economy; and the Relationship between Burundi, its Neighbours and other International Partners.
In this initial phase of the dialogue which is by and large a political process, the Facilitator will invite some of the political parties and important political actors to whom he will introduce the unpacked Eight-point Agenda to determine areas of convergence and divergence.
Other stakeholders like the civil society organisations, religious groups, as well as women and youth will be invited in later sessions for a similar purpose.
It is the expectation of the Facilitator that, in the initial dialogue, inputs from participant will draw up an outline of the would-be agreement to be continuously refined until when it fully agreed upon by all stakeholders and can be signed as a final agreement hopefully in June, 2017 as he envisaged.
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