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Tag: Burundi

  • US intensifies moves to end Burundi crisis

    The United States Government, on Friday, restated its commitment to supporting regional effort at resolving the lingering crisis in Burundi.

    The U.S. Department of State said in a statement that the crisis should be resolved through a full-time, regionally mediated dialogue.

    The statement said that part of U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Mr Thomas Perriello’s ongoing visit to some countries would focus on resolving the crisis.

    The envoy would be visiting Luanda, Angola; Johannesburg, South Africa; Bujumbura, Burundi; Bukavu and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.) and Arusha, Tanzania.

    “The trip is focused on supporting regional efforts to resolve the crisis in Burundi and supporting upcoming elections in the D.R.C.

    “The U.S. Government continues to believe that the urgent resumption of a full-time, regionally mediated dialogue among all Burundian stakeholders is the best route for resolving the current crisis.

    “The Special Envoy will engage with regional and Burundian stakeholders and EAC leadership about next steps for advancing the dialogue,’’ it said.

    The statement also said that the government was encouraging the East African Community (EAC) to immediately identify a date to commence the dialogue.

    It also expressed U.S. readiness to support the African Union (AU)’s effort at encouraging the dialogue process.

    According to the statement, the U.S is committed to restoring Burundi’s hard-won progress in the past decades.

  • US moves to end crisis in Burundi

    The U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes of Africa, Mr. Thomas Perriello, would be visiting Burundi as part of his government’s efforts at ending crisis in the country.

    The African Media Hub of the U.S. Department of State said in a statement that the Envoy would be visiting crisis-ridden Burundi, as well as Brussels, Belgium, Rome and Italy.

    Perriello will also be visiting Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Kigali, Rwanda; Bukavu, Goma, and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); Bujumbura, Burundi; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    According to the statement, the trip is focused on supporting regional efforts to resolve crisis in Burundi, as well as support upcoming elections in the DRC.

    “The U.S. Government strongly supports the regionally-mediated Burundian dialogue relaunched on Dec. 28, 2015, and is urging all stakeholders to remain committed to the process without preconditions.

    “An inclusive dialogue remains the best route for peacefully resolving the crisis in Burundi and restoring the stability achieved by the Arusha Agreement.

    “The Special Envoy will engage with Burundian stakeholders and the East African Community (EAC) leadership about next steps for advancing the dialogue, including moving the dialogue to Arusha, Tanzania,’’ it said.

    The statement also reiterated the U.S. government’s commitment to supporting the DRC in holding her “elections as per the constitution.”

    It said that the Envoy would meet with Congolese stakeholders to discuss next steps in the electoral process and the importance of respecting human rights during and after the elections.

    The statement also said that Perriello’s visit would culminate in Addis-Ababa, where he would join the U.S. delegation to the African Union Summit.

     

     

  • 100 protesters released from Burundi prison

    No fewer than 100 Burundian protesters who opposed President Pierre Nkurunziza during months of violence have been released from prison, officials said.

    Deo Ruberintwari, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, said that the protesters were freed on Tuesday as the government held aid talks with European Union officials.

    Burundi, which emerged from a 12-year civil war a decade ago, began spiraling into chaos in April when Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term, causing months of protests in Bujumbura and a failed coup.

    Burundi has been holding talks with EU officials on whether it can continue benefitting from EU aid after arresting hundreds of protesters, shutting private media houses and closing bank accounts of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

    Ruberintwari, however said that the release of the protesters “has no connection with the consultations under way”.

    Activists and human rights groups said many of the protesters were young men who were beaten while in prison, an allegation which the officials had denied.

    According to government’s spokesman, Philippe Nzobonariba, media and other organisations were shut down for criminality and there was evidence that a failed coup in May was financed through bank accounts of NGOs.

    Nzobonariba said that he expected Burundi and EU countries to come up with an agreement for vital aid flows to continue.

    The U.S, in November warned that Burundi was on the brink of civil war and would need regional mediation to establish a peace process between the government and opposition to avert a new conflict.

    Regional efforts to cool Burundi’s crisis had stumbled, in spite of calls by African Union and East African states for dialogue.

  • EU mission in Burundi reduces staff amid violence

    The EU mission in Burundi said it was temporarily reducing staff and pulling out foreign family members in the country due to rising risk of violence.

    EU Ambassador, Patrick Spirlet, who disclosed this on Friday in Nairobi, however, told newsmen that “the delegation will continue functioning normally.”

    He did not say how long the mission would operate with reduced staff.

    Similarly, The US embassy sent non-essential staff and staff family members away in May, but on Nov. 3, said they were returning.

    The embassy also warned U.S citizens against non-essential travel to Burundi.

    Burundi, which emerged from an ethnically-charged civil war in 2005, had been mired in a political crisis that sparked a failed coup, assassinations and other violence since April when President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would seek a third term.

    Nkurunziza was re-elected in July for another five years, a move the opposition described as violating the constitution and a peace deal that ended the nation’s 12-year civil war.

    It would be recalled that Burundi’s civil war that left 300,000 dead pitted rebel groups of the Hutu majority against the army which was at the time led by minority Tutsis.

  • Obama expresses concern over situation in Burundi

    Obama expresses concern over situation in Burundi

    U.S. President Barack Obama, in a phone call with South African President Jacob Zuma has expressed “deep concern” about the situation in Burundi, the White House said.

    Obama asked Zuma “to continue to work with other regional actors to call for calm and press for dialogue that can bring about a long-term solution to the crisis,” the White House said in a statement.

    At least 240 people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled to neighboring states, during months of violence that began when Burundi’s president, Pierre Nkurunziza, decided in April to run for a third term which he won in a disputed election in July.

  • Four killed in Burundi grenade attack

    No fewer than four people have died and 27 others injured in a grenade attack on a bar in the northern Burundian town of Ngozi, a police spokesman said on Monday.

    The attack took place in the home town of President Pierre Nkurunziza, fuelling speculation that it may have been carried out by opponents of his bid for a third term in office.

    Police spokesman, Pierre Nkurikiye, said two people had been arrested in connection with the incident.

    “A simultaneous attack on a bar in the northern town of Kirundo injured one person,’’ Nkurikiye said.

    On Friday, 11 police officers were injured in grenade attacks against police posts in Bujumbura.

    Human rights activists say nearly 80 people have been killed in protests that have rocked the country since April 26, forcing Nkurunziza to postpone the presidential elections from June 26 to July 15.

     

  • Burundi president sacks defence minister

    Burundi president sacks defence minister

    President of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza, on Monday reshuffled his cabinet following a coup attempt, sacking the Minister of Defence who had indirectly criticised his bid to seek a third term in office.

    General Pontien Gaciyubwenge had encouraged the army to remain neutral during massive protests opposing Nkurunziza’s candidacy in the June 26 elections.

    He also said the army supported the spirit of the Arusha Agreement, which ended a 12-year civil war in 2005 and said presidents must not serve more than two five-year terms.

    Gaciyubwenge was replaced by Emmanuel Ntahomvukiye, a civilian, whom many see as Nkurunziza loyalist.

    Laurent Kavakure, Foreign Minister was also replaced.

    Irina Inantore was appointed successor to Commerce Minister Marie-Rose Nizigiyimana, who had been criticised over fuel shortages.

    Observers said Kavakure may have been sacked for failing to convince the international community to support the elections.

    They also noted that the sacking of the defence minister was expected to deepen the rift created in the army by last week’s coup attempt, which divided soldiers in pro- and anti-government camps.

    Nkurunziza returned to Burundi on Friday, sparking protests the next day that were quickly dispersed.

    In his first public appearance since the coup attempt, Nkurunziza warned that Burundi might be targeted by the Islamist group al-Shabaab because of national efforts to fight the militants.

    He said the country contributed 5,400 troops to African Union peace mission to help the Somali Government to fight al-Shabaab.

    Al-Shabaab in its response on Monday said the group had been falsely blamed by the Burundian president.

    Ali-Mohamud Rage, al-Shabaab spokesman, said Nkurunziza was only trying to mislead his countrymen and women and the world’s attention, so that he can continue atrocities against his own people.

    The United Nations noted that more than 105,000 Burundians have fled violence to neighbouring countries.

  • Burundi arrests leader of failed coup

    Burundi arrests leader of failed coup

    Burundian forces yesterday arrested the leader of a failed coup and President Pierre Nkurunziza returned to the capital, his spokesman said, but protesters pledged to go back to the streets, setting the stage for more clashes.

    Major General Godefroid Niyombare was captured two days after announcing Nkurunziza had been toppled in the African nation, which is still recovering from an ethnically fueled civil war that ended just a decade ago.

    “He has been arrested. He didn’t surrender,” presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho told Reuters, after earlier announcing that three other generals had also been detained.

    Asked what would happen to the plotters who announced the coup when Nkurunziza was abroad, Abayeho said it was up to the justice system: “They will be held answerable.”

    Burundi was plunged into deep crisis after Nkurunziza announced he was running for another five-year term.

    Opponents say this violates the constitution and a deal to end the civil war that pitted rebel groups of the majority Hutu population, including one led by Nkurunziza, against the army which was then commanded by minority Tutsis.

    The army is now mixed and has absorbed rival factions, but the coup attempt exposed alarming divisions. Diplomats say the longer unrest continues the more chance that a conflict, till now been largely a struggle for power, reopens ethnic wounds.

    The unrest worries a region with a history of ethnic killing, but there was little sign that tensions were easing.

    Troops loyal to Nkurunziza had largely calmed the streets after frequent gunfire on Thursday.

    But activists called for more rallies against the president, while some Bujumbura residents said police told them they would be fired upon at if they did demonstrate.

    “Protests to reject the third term bid for Nkurunziza will continue,” said Gordien Niyungeko, deputy head of Focode, one of the 300 civil society groups that backed protests. “Our movement had nothing to do with the attempted coup.”

    Until the coup attempt, protests had been almost daily. Protesters hurled rocks while police fired tear gas, water cannon and were even seen firing guns at the protesters.

    More than 105,000 people have already fled to neighboring states, including next door Rwanda, with the same ethnic mix as Burundi and which was torn apart by a genocide in 1994 that killed 800,000 mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

    Hundreds of people lined the streets carrying flags for the president’s return to the capital from his rural home. His spokesman said he was back in the presidential palace on Friday after returning to Burundi on Thursday from Tanzania where he had been when the coup was declared.

    A man with a gaping head wound lay dead in a street in Butarere, a Bujumbura district that has been a hotbed for protests. Residents said police had shot him and wounded two others. There was no immediate police comment.

    A group of men in Bujumbura’s Cibitoke suburb said they had been told by police that they would be treated as rebels and shot at if they demonstrated. “Now we are no longer looking for protesters, we are looking for rebels,” police told them.

    Even before the coup attempt, officials had called protests an “insurrection”.

    Fighting on Thursday had at times been fierce, particularly around the state radio station, a strategic asset for loyalist and supporters of the coup. An army chief said 12 rebels were killed in those clashes.

    The constitution and a peace deal that ended the civil war both specify a two-term presidential limit. But Nkurunziza is seeking a third term anyway, relying on a court ruling that his first term does not count because he was appointed by parliament, not elected. His opponents and some donors have questioned the court’s impartiality.

    The heavy-handed response of the police to demonstrations in recent weeks has drawn stern rebukes from Western donors, who have urged the president not to run again. The United States, which provides training and equipment to the army, demanded a halt to “violent force” by police.

    Several African leaders had criticized Nkurunziza’s bid for re-election in the June 26 presidential vote. The African Union also condemned any attempt to seize “power through violence”.

    The European Union, Belgium and the Netherlands have all suspended some aid due to the unrest, particularly donations linked to the elections, which alongside the presidential polls also include a parliamentary race scheduled for May 26.

  • Burundian army declares coup against president

    A Burundi army general said on Wednesday senior officers are “dismissing” President Pierre Nkurunziza, amid unrest over his bid for a third term in office.

    Major Gen. Godefroid Niyombareh announced that a national salvation committee had been set up to run the country.

    However, it is not clear how much support he and the other officers have, the BBC reports.

    President Nkurunziza is currently in Tanzania meeting other East African leaders to discuss the crisis. His aide dismissed the coup claims as “a joke.”

    Gen. Niyombareh, in a statement read to reporters in a military base, said he did not recognise the leadership because the president’s bid for a third term violated the constitution.

    Soldiers surrounded the offices of the national broadcaster in the capital, Bujumbura.

    In a radio broadcast, Gen. Niyombareh said: “The masses have decided to take into their own hands the destiny of the nation to remedy this unconstitutional environment into which Burundi has been plunged.

    “The masses vigorously and tenaciously reject President Nkurunziza’s third-term mandate. President Pierre Nkurunziza has been relieved of his duties. The government is overthrown.”

    Gen. Niyombareh’s “national salvation committee” comprises at least five other army and police generals.

    He said in the radio broadcast that the mission of the body was the “restoration of national unity and the resumption of the electoral process in a peaceful and fair environment.”

    One witness told Reuters that crowds who had earlier been out on the streets of the capital protesting against the president were now cheering and celebrating his apparent dismissal.

    The unrest began on April 26 and has led to the deaths of more than 20 people.

    President Nkurunziza has rejected calls to postpone next month’s election.

  • Burundi investigates ‘Rwandan bodies’ in Lake

    Burundi has set up an investigation after a number of dead bodies wrapped in plastic were found floating in a lake on its border with Rwanda.

    Fishermen say there are reports of dozens of unidentified bodies being spotted in recent weeks in Lake Rweru.

    It is not clear how they died. The regional authorities say their investigations indicate the victims were not from Burundi.

    But Rwanda police say no-one has been reported missing on the Rwandan side.

    ‘’The victims are not Burundian citizens because the bodies are coming from Akagera River flowing from Rwanda,’’ Burundian official, Jean Berchmans Mpabansi, told the BBC.

    The latest bodies – five wrapped within two plastic bags – were discovered on Sunday and Monday.

    Two other bodies were found last Tuesday.

    Villagers in Giteranyi district, which borders the lake, say the bodies first began appearing in July – with some saying up to 40 have been spotted.

    The BBC’s Prime Ndikumagenge in Burundi says most of the bodies have been wrapped in plastic, but one fisherman said that not all of them have been – giving the example of a naked woman who was found.

    The bodies are often discovered in an advanced stage of decomposition, prompting health fears as villagers in the semi-arid province of Muyingai depend on the lake for their water, he says.