4 killed over Nkurunziza’s re-election

President Pierre Nkurunziza has announced a Saturday deadline for people to hand over illegal firearms or be treated as enemies of the state in a bid, the government says, to stem months of violence and protests over his election to a third term in office this year.

Tensions are rising, partly driven by government speeches loaded with “dangerous” and “war-like” rhetoric with ethnic overtones, said a Burundian academic.

France has called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting to discuss the crisis.

Last week, Senate president Reverien Ndikuriyo threatened to “pulverise” opponents who did not lay down arms.

“Today, the police shoot in the legs… but when the day comes that we tell them to go to “work”, do not come crying to us”, he said. Burundi lies next to Rwanda, where a genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus took place in 1994.

Vice-President Gaston Sindimwo has repeated warnings with the simple threat: “Holiday time is over”.

But a senior police officer dismissed the warnings.

In a telephone interview on Thursday, UN Special Rapporteur on transitional justice said inaction on Burundi demonstrates that the “international architecture is showing its cracks” in dealing with a crisis that has resulted in a few 200 deaths and more than 200,000 refugees.

Opponents said Nkurunziza’s re-election breached the terms of the peace deal that paved the way to ending a 13-year civil war in 2006.

“The recurring violence and killings in Burundi must stop”, declared Mr. Ban in a statement issued by his spokesperson in New York, in which he underlines the responsibility of the Burundian authorities to protect the civilian population, regardless of political affiliation, “and ensure that the widespread impunity for these heinous acts is brought to an immediate end”.

Weeks after UN-backed experts warned that thousands are dying of starvation in South Sudan war zones, aid agencies say they can not access areas to stave off famine because of “spiralling” violence… “[The Secretary-General] calls for accountability for those who have engaged in publicly inciting violence”, the statement said.

The African Union (AU) has warned of its “deep concern” for troubled Burundi and the wider region if rivals do not resolve political differences peacefully.

“We prefer to leave. because our leaders want revenge”, said a mother of four, leaving the city’s Mutakura district.