They made the statement after a summit of the East African Community in Dar es Salaam.

African leaders meeting in Tanzania on Sunday May 31, 2015 to discuss political crisis in Burundi triggered by the president’s plan to run for a third term called for the postponement of elections by at least a month and a half, Reuters reports. According to the report, also carried by other news agencies, “the summit called for a longer postponement of elections in Burundi for a period not less than one and a half months,” Richard Sezibera, Secretary General of the East African Community, EAC, is quoted as saying.

The leaders had previously called for the vote to be postponed, to create the right conditions for voting, but to be held within Nkurunziza’s current mandate that ends in August. The leaders also called for the “disarmament of all armed youth groups” and for the “creation of conditions for the return of refugees.” Burundi government spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba, reports say, told AFP news agency that the government welcomed the statement and was open to idea of delaying the elections. But he said that the issue of whether the president should stand for a third term had not been discussed at the conference and that the Burundian government therefore considered the matter to be “closed.”

Opponents to Mr Nkurunziza have called for people to return to the streets.  Protest leader Pacifique Nininahazwe, as quoted by AFP, as saying on Sunday: “We are disappointed because the summit said nothing on the question that we are concerned about. We are going to stage even bigger demonstrations than we have done so far in order to get Nkurunziza to leave office.”

Nkurunziza, who faced a coup attempt while in Dar es Salaam for the first summit on May 13, 2015 did not attend the meeting. He was represented by the country’s Foreign Minister, Alain Aime Nyamitwe. Rwanda also sent a Minister rather than the Head of State, a Tanzanian Foreign Ministry official said. However, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete told a news conference after the summit that, “the leaders have been trying to navigate our way so we can help the people of Burundi to land safely under the current circumstances.” Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term unleashed Burundi’s worst political crisis since an ethnically-driven civil war ended in 2005. The president’s supporters say a constitutional court ruling allows him to run again.

In the Burundian capital Bujumbura, low-key protests took place on Sunday in some suburbs of the city including Cibitoke, Buterere and Mutakura. One person was injured late on Saturday when a grenade exploded in the city centre. Rights groups say at least 20 people have been killed by police since protests began. There are fears violence could lead to renewed ethnic bloodletting between the Hutu and Tutsi communities.