It is time for urgent regional action to address root causes of forced displacement in Burundi

The East African Community faces a growing crisis of Burundian citizens being forced to flee their homeland and settle as informal traders or long-term refugees in neighboring countries. This mass displacement is not a voluntary migration, but driven by dire conditions within Burundi itself.

The root causes lie in three interrelated factors that fall squarely within the East African Community's mandate to preserve peace, security and good governance among its member states. First, Burundi continues to experience widespread human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence, according to both international monitoring bodies and independent Burundian experts.

Political repression is further compounded by the state's inability to meet citizens' basic needs, due to coercive financial contributions, fuel and foreign exchange shortages, and a collapse of public services.

Second, the Arusha Agreement of 2000, which ended Burundi's civil war and established its power-sharing system, is unravelling. The constitution's term limits were removed, the ethnic and political quotas guaranteed by Arusha were eroded, and opposition candidates were sidelined in recent elections. This departure from the spirit of the accord undermines the very foundation of Burundi's stability, which the East African Community helped guarantee through its regional guarantees.

Finally, there is a growing trend of ethnic framing and exclusion in Burundi's political landscape, with loyalty to the ruling party becoming a prerequisite for access to public office, security sector positions and economic opportunity. This has led to a convergence of political dissent and ethnic identity as grounds for exclusion, intimidation, or violence.

These three drivers - human rights violations, erosion of Arusha's power-sharing guarantees, and increasing ethnic exclusion - all contribute to the ongoing forced displacement of Burundians seeking refuge in neighboring countries. The East African Community must now take urgent action to address this complex crisis. This includes reestablishing a time-bound dialogue on restoring Arusha's power-sharing provisions, publicly demanding an end to enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and reprisals against returnees, and ensuring that any repatriation of Burundian refugees is voluntary, safe and dignified. Failure to act on all three fronts risks further destabilization in the region.