Police fire live shots during Burundi protest
Burundi’s police have shot live rounds and tear gas during a demonstration against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid to contest a third term in office.
Protesters clashed with the law enforcement officers in the capital, Bujumbura, on Tuesday. Police launched the attack to break up groups of demonstrators trying to gather in the three hotspot neighborhoods of Cibitoke, Musaga, and Nyakabiga.
Burundi's opposition has been calling on the head of state to abandon further presidential aspirations as the country rolls in violence in the run-up to the June 26 presidential polls. More than 30 people have died in the protests that began when Nkurunziza announced in late April that he would stand for reelection after the constitutional court gave him the green light.
Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader from the majority Hutu tribe, has been Burundi’s president for two legal five-year terms. His intention to seek a third term is viewed by the opponents as a clear violation of the constitution and the Arusha Agreements, which marked an end to the civil war. The two documents limit the president’s stay in office to two five-year-long terms.
The incumbent president, however, has rejected claims that he is violating the constitution by seeking to remain in power, arguing that he can still run for president as his rise to power after the civil war did not come through direct votes.
The United Nations has, meanwhile, pushed for action to halt the turmoil.
The UN political affairs chief, Jeffrey Feltman, has met with Burundian Vice President Prosper Bazombanza, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has spoken by phone with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and Angolan leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos about the Burundi crisis.
The UN Security Council is due to hear a report on Thursday from Said Djinnit, Ban’s special envoy for the Great Lakes region, who will brief council members by video conference from Bujumbura.
The country has also barely put behind a failed coup attempt, when coup leader General Godefroid Niyombare announced on May 13 the overthrow of the president when he was on a visit to Tanzania.
HN/HSN/GHN
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