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| - Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye on Thursday instructed the government-controlled media regulator to "settle the differences" with sanctioned news organisations, in a rare sign of outreach by the isolated regime. Burundi is ranked among the worst countries in the world for press freedom, with many local and international news outlets blacklisted and independent journalists forced into exile since a major political crisis in 2015. Ndayishimiye's election in May 2020 had raised hopes for a more open political environment after many years of repression and violence in the troubled East African nation. At a meeting with media executives, Ndayishimiye for the first time ordered the National Communication Council (CNC) to meet with sanctioned news outlets to discuss the prospect of easing restrictions. "We must settle the differences we have had in the past," he told the gathering of news chiefs in Bujumbura, the country's main city. "There are media that have been sanctioned. I ask the CNC to sit down with these media and find solutions to these disputes, so that we can put an end to them once and for all." Burundi's independent media outlets were among the most flourishing in the region until the 2015 crisis when former leader Pierre Nkurunziza sought a fiercely-contested third term in office, sparking violence that claimed at least 1,200 lives. Several radio and television stations were destroyed and about 100 journalists forced to flee the country. The BBC had its operating license taking away in 2019, and with Voice of America was barred from broadcasting in the local language. Ndayishimiye urged the CNC and news outlets to "sit around the same table" and work together, describing the role of the press as "essential in the life of a nation". "We welcome this announcement by the head of state, if he is sincere," said Bob Rugurika, the head of African Public Radio (RPA), an independent broadcaster that was set ablaze during the 2015 violence. "But this raises questions. How can the CNC sit down with those media officials facing arrest warrants?" Rugurika said he hoped Ndayishimiye was not pulling a stunt "aimed at fooling the European Union into lifting sanctions". The EU imposed sanctions on Burundi in 2015, but their relationship has been warming of late. In December, four journalists imprisoned for a year in Burundi on charges that rights groups condemned as "baseless" were released after receiving a presidential pardon from Ndayishimiye. On Reporters Without Borders' 2020 press freedom index, Burundi ranks 160th out of 180 countries. str/np/dl
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