Burundi authorities arrested 157 people during two days of protests spurred by the ruling party’s nomination of President Pierre Nkurunziza as its candidate for June elections, police chief Andre Ndayambaje said.
“We call on families to come and visit them — they are safe and secure,” Ndayambaje said in a Monday interview in the capital, Bujumbura, referring to those detained. He didn’t give any details on a death toll, which local broadcasters such as Radio Isanganiro have put at five people, and said police are still assessing the impact of the protests.
Opposition parties and civil society leaders have staged demonstrations in the East African country after Nkurunziza’s April 25 nomination by the ruling CNDD-FDD party. Police have used teargas, water cannons and live ammunition against protesters, Human Rights Watch said, citing rights activists.
Nkurunziza came to power in 2005 after leading a rebel group during the landlocked country’s 12-year civil war. The Arusha Accords, which eventually brought an end to the conflict that killed 300,000 people, stipulated a two-term presidential limit and power-sharing between the country’s ethnic groups. Opponents say a third term for Nkurunziza would violate these pacts.
Authorities have also placed restrictions on local media and shut down at least one broadcaster during the unrest, New York-based Human Rights Watch said Monday in a statement.
Opposition party leader Leonce Ngendakumana accused the ruling party of deploying Rwandan rebels to suppress demonstrations. “Police uniforms have been given to them in Gatumba,” close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are based, Ngendakumana said by phone late Monday. Police chief Ndayambaje denied any rebel involvement.
At least 11,850 people have fled to neighboring Rwanda since the start of the month as incidents of violence mount before the elections, the United Nations said on April 24.
Bloomberg
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