DAR ES SALAAM, May 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Rwanda can now expect to join the East African Community (EAC) in November this year after the heads of state of the current EAC member states have called for expedition of its admission.

    Tanzanian Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete on Monday read out a joint communique issued after the third extraordinary summit held among President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda that the heads of state had directedthe council of ministers to expedite the process of admission so that at the next ordinary summit in November the matter (of Rwanda joining the EAC) would be concluded.

    The council of ministers is the executive branch of the EAC.

    The EAC last month sent a fact-finding team to Rwanda and the team has already reported back to the EAC Secretariat and through it to the heads of state of the three existing EAC member countries.

    Burundi also applied to join the EAC and both Rwanda and Burundi attended the sixth EAC Summit held in November 2004 in Arusha of northern Tanzania to further emphasize their interests.

    The three presidents also discussed the situation in Burundi but only welcomed the positive developments in that country and called on the political groups in Burundi to ensure that the national elections slated for August are conducted and concluded successfully.

    The communique did not mention the breach of the truce signed in between Burundi's interim government and the country's only active rebel group, Forces for National Liberation (FNL).

    The two sides, represented by President Domitien Ndayizeye and FNL chief Agathon Rwasa, signed their truce accord in Dar es Salaam on May 15.

    But the two sides have broken their accord twice since then with renewed fightings in the surroundings of the Burundian capital of Bujumbura.

    In an extraordinary summit held earlier in Kampala among leaders of Rwandan, Kenya, Burundi, Zambia, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania, the transitional period of Burundi was further extended from April 22 to August 26 this year.

    The transitional period was originally set for three years and was to have ended in October 2004. The Great Lakes region countries had in November last year set April 22 this year as the end of the extended transitional period.

    The transitional period had been extended by six months to accommodate the Burundian preparation for elections.

    Even though it held a national referendum in February this yearover its new constitution, Burundi still lacks relevant laws to facilitate the election process.

    Burundi, a small land-locked country in central Africa, is emerging from 11 years of civil conflicts that have claimed the lives of some 300,000 people. Enditem