Burundi Postpones Elections Amid Violence
By MARC SANTORA
JUNE 4, 2015
NAIROBI, Kenya — After weeks of unrest that left dozens of protesters dead and drove tens of thousands of people to flee the country, the government of Burundi has postponed parliamentary and presidential elections that were scheduled for this month.
The violence in the country, the worst Burundi has seen since an ethnically charged civil war ended nearly a decade ago, was touched off by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term.
Opponents said the Constitution barred him from running again, and they accused him of ordering a brutal crackdown on protesters. Mr. Nkurunziza argued that his first five-year term in office did not count toward the Constitution’s two-term limit because he was installed by a vote of Parliament and not by a general election.
The protests continued after the country’s constitutional court backed the president on the issue. Shortly afterward, the vice president of the court, Sylvere Nimpagaritse, who is now in exile in Rwanda, told The Associated Press that the judges were pressured to rule that way.
“If we did not give the third term a green light, we were going to be in trouble,” he said in early May.
The unrest intensified after an army general tried to mount a coup on May 13 while Mr. Nkurunziza was out of the country. The coup failed, several of the accused leaders were arrested, and Mr. Nkurunziza insisted that the elections would go ahead.
“We ask all the people of Burundi to stay calm in the face of the impostor,” he wrote on Twitter. “The situation is under control, and the constitutional order has been safeguarded.”
But the protests grew still more violent, with as many as 60 people killed and roughly 100,000 fleeing the country, and neighboring nations watched with increasing concern.
Burundi borders Rwanda, and the two nations share a grim past of strife between two major ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. More than 800,000 people were killed in the Rwandan civil war of the 1990s, and about 300,000 people died in Burundi’s 13-year conflict before a peace accord was signed in 2006. The current Constitution and Mr. Nkurunziza’s ascent to power were products of that accord.
Leaders of the region’s nations met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, last week and called for the violence in Burundi to stop and for the elections to be put off. Mr. Nkurunziza’s government announced Wednesday that it would do so, without saying when they would be rescheduled.
“The June 5 local and parliamentary elections are postponed until another date that is unknown,” Pierre Claver Ndayicariye, an election official, said on state television. “The authorized persons will announce it in hours, in days ahead.”
The Constitution requires that the presidential election be held at least 30 days before the end of the incumbent’s current term, which expires Aug. 26.
Willy Nyamitwe, a senior adviser to Mr. Nkurunziza, said “the new electoral schedule will take into account the recommendations of the East African heads of state and the deadlines provided for by the Constitution.”
The parliamentary elections had already been postponed once, from May 20, because of the unrest. The presidential election was to have been held June 26, with a runoff in July if needed.
Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the United Nations, called on Thursday for Mr. Nkurunziza to give up his efforts to stay in power.
“I believe President #Nkurunziza has lost his legitimacy and should step aside,” Mr. Annan wrote on Twitter.
Sadi Niyungeko contributed reporting from Burundi.
JUNE 4, 2015
NAIROBI, Kenya — After weeks of unrest that left dozens of protesters dead and drove tens of thousands of people to flee the country, the government of Burundi has postponed parliamentary and presidential elections that were scheduled for this month.
The violence in the country, the worst Burundi has seen since an ethnically charged civil war ended nearly a decade ago, was touched off by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term.
Opponents said the Constitution barred him from running again, and they accused him of ordering a brutal crackdown on protesters. Mr. Nkurunziza argued that his first five-year term in office did not count toward the Constitution’s two-term limit because he was installed by a vote of Parliament and not by a general election.
The protests continued after the country’s constitutional court backed the president on the issue. Shortly afterward, the vice president of the court, Sylvere Nimpagaritse, who is now in exile in Rwanda, told The Associated Press that the judges were pressured to rule that way.
“If we did not give the third term a green light, we were going to be in trouble,” he said in early May.
The unrest intensified after an army general tried to mount a coup on May 13 while Mr. Nkurunziza was out of the country. The coup failed, several of the accused leaders were arrested, and Mr. Nkurunziza insisted that the elections would go ahead.
“We ask all the people of Burundi to stay calm in the face of the impostor,” he wrote on Twitter. “The situation is under control, and the constitutional order has been safeguarded.”
But the protests grew still more violent, with as many as 60 people killed and roughly 100,000 fleeing the country, and neighboring nations watched with increasing concern.
Burundi borders Rwanda, and the two nations share a grim past of strife between two major ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. More than 800,000 people were killed in the Rwandan civil war of the 1990s, and about 300,000 people died in Burundi’s 13-year conflict before a peace accord was signed in 2006. The current Constitution and Mr. Nkurunziza’s ascent to power were products of that accord.
Leaders of the region’s nations met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, last week and called for the violence in Burundi to stop and for the elections to be put off. Mr. Nkurunziza’s government announced Wednesday that it would do so, without saying when they would be rescheduled.
“The June 5 local and parliamentary elections are postponed until another date that is unknown,” Pierre Claver Ndayicariye, an election official, said on state television. “The authorized persons will announce it in hours, in days ahead.”
The Constitution requires that the presidential election be held at least 30 days before the end of the incumbent’s current term, which expires Aug. 26.
Willy Nyamitwe, a senior adviser to Mr. Nkurunziza, said “the new electoral schedule will take into account the recommendations of the East African heads of state and the deadlines provided for by the Constitution.”
The parliamentary elections had already been postponed once, from May 20, because of the unrest. The presidential election was to have been held June 26, with a runoff in July if needed.
Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the United Nations, called on Thursday for Mr. Nkurunziza to give up his efforts to stay in power.
“I believe President #Nkurunziza has lost his legitimacy and should step aside,” Mr. Annan wrote on Twitter.
Sadi Niyungeko contributed reporting from Burundi.
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