Bujumubura – The Burundi government has recalled its ambassador to Belgium for consultations to assess the state of relations between the two countries.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Aimé Nyamitwe told the African News Agency that relations between the two countries were not at the desired level.
“The shutting of an embassy is always an eventuality. In diplomacy one can open an embassy, but can also close it when circumstances require it,” he said.
However, he indicated that the government had not yet reached the stage of shutting the embassy. Burundi's ambassador to Belgium would return to Bujumbura within a few days.
A diplomat in Bujumbura who asked to remain anonymous said it was normal for a country to summon an ambassador for consultations when relations with the host country were troubled.
But, in the case of the ambassador of Burundi to Belgium, “it is abnormal because he was told to leave with all the existing contracts with Belgian companies and institutions, as well as the estimate of the cost of the embassy removal”, he told ANA.
The measure may have heavy consequences for one of the poorest countries in the world.
Relations between Belgium and Burundi have been deteriorating for about two months.
Burundian authorities accuse Brussels of being behind the destabilisation in the country.