{{The United States urged Burundi’s president on Tuesday to drop planned constitutional changes that could upset a delicate ethnic power balance, warning that the country risked a return to the “dark days” of civil war.}}<\/p>\n
Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations met President Pierre Nkurunziza – who might be allowed to run for a third term under a new constitution – and told him he should leave the current system in place.<\/p>\n
“What we stressed was that the president has a tremendous legacy and he has built with the people of Burundi some great successes from 2005 until the very present,” Power told a news conference in Bujumbura after her meeting.<\/p>\n
“We believe that his legacy should be one of respect of the constitution, thus we urge again that the constitution, the rule of law and human rights be respected.”<\/p>\n
The proposed constitutional amendments have stirred the worst political crisis in the east African country since the 12-year civil war ended in 2005, and raised fears of new turmoil.<\/p>\n
The plan would mean a single powerful prime minister from the ruling party replaces two vice president posts currently shared between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi ethnic groups.<\/p>\n
In March, the ruling CNDD-FDD party failed to win parliamentary approval for the constitutional changes, but the government said they might be put to the people in a referendum instead.<\/p>\n
On her Twitter account, Power called for international intervention to prevent matters deteriorating in Burundi.<\/p>\n
“Burundi needs international attention now to ensure that it doesn’t return to the dark days of its past. (We) must engage early and persistently,” she wrote.<\/p>\n
In a previous tweet, she said Burundi’s post-civil war progress had begun to unravel as the “government moves to strip political freedoms and stifle dissent”.<\/p>\n
Power said the United States would provide $7.5 million to support Burundi’s efforts to hold elections in 2015.<\/p>\n
The constitutional dispute has driven a wedge between the Hutu-dominated CNDD-FDD and its junior governing partner, the Tutsi-led Uprona party whose leadership believes Nkurunziza is maneuvering to stand for a third term, beyond the prescribed two elected terms.<\/p>\n
Burundi’s political stand-off has raised the risk of another explosion in a volatile region already grappling with unrest in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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