Burundi presidential elections postponed to July 21

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) ” Burundi’s presidential elections have been postponed by almost a week, an official said Saturday, days after United Nations official warned the president’s decision to seek a third term could spark an explosion of violence.

Since protests first erupted in Burundi in April over Nkurunziza’s plan for a third-term bid, over 70 people have reportedly been killed, while tens of thousands of others have fled to neighboring countries.

The parties, led and represented by the opposition stalwart leader Issa Ngendakumana on Friday petitioned Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in his capacity as the chairman of the EAC. He said the postponement was made following a request earlier in the week by regional leaders from the…

Government spokesman Philippe Nzobanariba said in a statement on Friday that the election commission had been asked to implement the EAC recommendation for a delay to the vote, but that it should be held no later than July 26.

President Pierre Nkurunziza signed a decree extending election campaigning until the evening of July 18.

Asked whether the election had been delayed, presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho told Reuters in a phone text message: “Postponed to July 21”.

In the north, at least 12 gunmen were killed in clashes with government troops in a thickly forested area on the Rwandan border.

The African nations had sought a delay until July 30 to give time for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to try to mediate between the opposing groups.

The crisis has alarmed a region with a history of ethnic conflict.

They further argue that weeks of protests in the country and a violent crackdown by government security forces suggest that free and fair polls would not be possible.

Rwanda, victim of a 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis as well as moderate Hutus, were butchered, has vowed not to let such slaughter happen again.

Rebel Burundian army soldiers who tried but failed to overthrow the president in a coup in mid-May were involved in the fighting, according to local media.