Burundi asks electoral body to consider presidential poll delay – Coastweek

Burundians are braced for “an explosion of the murderous violence” all too familiar from the country’s civil war because of tensions over the president’s decision to stand for a third term, the United Nations has warned.

The president, whom Ngendakumana served as a senior intelligence officer in authorities and through the civil struggle as a insurgent fighter, has plunged Burundi into its deepest political disaster for a decade by looking for a 3rd 5-yr time period.

A Burundian government spokesman said the relevant electoral bodies had been instructed to prepare for the delay to the poll, but pointed to the constitutional end to the president’s term on July 26 as a red line.

The president, whose CNDD-FDD party was declared victor of last month’s parliamentary poll that was boycotted by the opposition, cites a court ruling saying he can run.

The nation has been rocked by protests since the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy named President Pierre Nkurunziza – in power since 2005 – its candidate.

More than 145,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries in an exodus sparked “not by rumour, but by precise and targeted campaigns of intimidation and terror” by the Imbonerakure, he added. Refugees interviewed by his Office in the Democratic republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Tanzania continue to refer to the Imbonerakure militia as the main threat, but some have also stated that militants from other groups are also employing violence a new and disturbing development.

CNDD-FDD officers deny costs its youths have been armed.

“The exclusively means to attain this goal is to use pressure”, he stated, including that he was working with coup chief General Godefroid Niyombare and in “organising ourselves in army models” to assist shield individuals from police or Imbonerakure. The African Union, the Eastern African Community, and the worldwide Conference on Great Lakes Region expressed similar concerns.

Gervais Abayeho, a presidential spokesman, said anyone threatening Burundi’s security “will meet the full force of our defence and security forces”.

KAMPALA – A Burundi general who was part of a failed coup attempt in May said his group was still working to oust President Pierre Nkurunziza, accusing him of stoking ethnic divisions in a country still trying to recover from civil war.