Consequently, more than 70 people have been killed, with nearly 144,000 refugees fleeing into neighbouring nations in more than two months of protests and a failed coup attempt.
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Mr Nkurunziza did not attend a second summit on May 31.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam on the eve of the summit, Nkurunziza’s head of communications Willy Nyamitwe urged the worldwide community, and particularly ex- colonial power Belgium, to respect the results of the polls.
“The next [step] is to organise ourselves just to resist, to make Pierre Nkurunziza understand that he must leave and then that we are prepared to do it by force, by organising a military force”, Ngendakumana told Kenya’s KTN television, adding that coup leader General Godefroid Niyombare was still in Burundi.
EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera said Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni would now lead regional efforts to strike a deal in Burundi Crisis.
However, the constitutional court has ruled in the president’s favor, saying he is eligible for a third term because he was chosen by lawmakers and not popularly elected for his first term. He on July 6, 2015 skipped a regional summit on Burundi crisis. However “without actually having Nkurunziza travelling to Dar es Salaam, it’s impossible to exert that kind of pressure”.
Ngendakumana said followers of the coup leaders were behind a spate of grenade attacks, which often targeted police, in the run-up to parliamentary elections held on June 26.
Nkurunziza, who stayed in Burundi to lead his presidential campaign, has previously dismissed all previous calls for poll delays. “He said the only reason he had left Burundi was to give an interview to this Kenyan television station”.
“We are behind them, and our intent is to intensify”, he said when asked about the incidents. “After the polls, we will come back to dialogue”, he said.
Spokesman for the ruling CNDD-FDD party, Gelase-Daniel Ndabirabe, told AFP that Bathily angered the government side by failing to present himself to the authorities, including President Pierre Nkurunziza, and instead focused on meeting diplomats and the opposition.
The United Nations electoral observer mission said the elections took place “in a tense political crisis, and a climate of widespread fear and intimidation”, which also angered the government.
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The United Nations, along with the African Union and the East African Economic Community, have since called for peace talks.
