The Nation Newspaper

Tag: President Pierre Nkurunziza’

  • Burundi’s president delays parliamentary elections

    Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza delayed by a week local and parliamentary elections set for May 26, after nearly a month of political unrest and a failed military coup in the east African state, his adviser said on Wednesday.

    Nkurunziza made the decision after a recommendation by the election commission and following requests from opposition politicians and the international community for a postponement, Willy Nyamitwe told Reuters on Wednesday.

    Following a now daily pattern of street protests against Nkurunziza, demonstrators gathered in the capital shortly after dawn to chant slogans calling for the 51-year-old former sports professor not to seek a third term in office.

    Police fired tear gas at one group of demonstrators, and a few shots were heard, a Reuters photographer said.

    The protesters said Nkurunziza’s desire to extend his time in office violates the constitution and a peace accord that ended an ethnically charged civil war in 2005. As many as 300,000 people died in the conflict.

    Regional heavyweight South Africa called this week for the June 26 presidential election to be postponed indefinitely to allow stability to return.

    However, diplomats fear that the longer the crisis drags on, the greater the chance that what is essentially a power struggle could re-open old wounds in a country with a long history of mass ethnic killing between its Hutu majority and Tutsi minority.

    A failed coup last week appeared to expose rifts in the military, a key pillar of post-war unity and reconciliation. Nyamitwe denied any splits in the security forces.

    “The army is not divided,” he told Reuters.

  • 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.

  • Three die in Burundi grenade attacks

    Two Burundi police officers and a civilian were killed in two separate grenade attacks in the capital late on Friday, a police spokesman said, after the president warned of tough measures against those behind street protests.

    More than 10 people were wounded, deputy police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said in a phone message.

    The three were killed in the Kamenge district of Bujumbura but another area was also hit, he said. One of the dead policemen was a senior officer.

    Bujumbura has been rocked by six consecutive days of demonstrations against President Pierre Nkurunziza, who on Friday warned of “severe sanctions” against those protesting over his decision to seek a third term in office, Reuters says.

    The protests have sparked the biggest political crisis since an ethnically fuelled civil war ended in 2005.

    The presidency has called the demonstration an “insurrection.”

    Opponents say Nkurunziza is violating the constitution and the Arusha peace deal by seeking a third five-year mandate at elections on June 26.

    Pre-vote fears have driven more than 26,000 Burundians to neighbouring Congo and Rwanda, officials say.

  • Police kill two in Burundi protest

    Burundian police shot dead two protesters and wounded at least one other on Sunday, the Red Cross said, in demonstrations against the president seeking a third term which critics say would violate a constitutional limit of two terms.

    Witnesses said police used water cannon, tear gas and in some cases live bullets to disperse demonstrators across Bujumbura.

    The authorities earlier banned all protests either for or against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s renewed candidacy.

    African leaders and Western nations have urged Nkurunziza not to run again, and the United States and the European Union have indicated they could take punitive steps if violence erupted as a result.

    “We counted two protesters killed by police, four others were injured and one is in coma in hospital after being hit by a bullet,” Alexis Manirakiza, Burundi Red Cross spokesman told Reuters.

    Police had no immediate comment on the casualties.

    Burundi’s ruling CNDD-FDD party nominated Nkurunziza as its presidential candidate on Saturday. Those opposed said this not only violates the constitution, which limits leaders to two terms in office, but also goes against the spirit of a 2000 peace deal that has kept Burundi calm for a decade since a civil war between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis ended in 2005.