Two dead as Burundi erupts in violence
2015-04-26 17:17:19.82 GMT
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
April 26 (Sydney Morning Herald)
Two protesters have been shot dead during clashes with police in Bujumbura, the capital of
Burundi, witnesses said on Sunday.
Clashes were taking place in several parts of Bujumbura
the day after President Pierre Nkurunziza launched a
controversial bid to stay in power for a third term and despite
a government ban on protests.
Independent eyewitnesses said one person was shot dead in
the city's Ngagara district and another in Musaga after police
used live ammunition to disperse crowds.
One body was left in the streets while another was taken
away by Red Cross workers, several eyewitnesses said.
Burundi's ruling CNDD-FDD party nominated Mr Nkurunziza as
its presidential candidate on Saturday, prompting hundreds of
civil society groups to decry the move as a "coup" against the
constitution, which limits leaders to two terms in office.
"We deplore the way police acted with violence against a
peaceful demonstration," said Janvier Bigirimana, a civil
society activist.
"We had called for peaceful protests and that is what
happened, but the police and ruling party militia fired real
bullets at the protesters," said a Burundian opposition leader,
Frodebu Leonce Ngendakumana.
Dozens of protesters gathered in four suburbs of the
capital Bujumbura and set off to reach the city centre for a
march, but riot police blocked their path.
In one northern neighbourhood, protesters burnt tyres on
the road and threw stones at police, who also shot in the air
and used water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Witnesses said violence had spread to a second
neighbourhood where one protester was wounded when police shot
him, while a police officer had been injured after being hit by
a rock.
The witnesses said police were also using live bullets.
Local media reports added that several more people have
been wounded in the city, while several police have also been
hurt in stone throwing.
Burundi's Interior Minister Edouard Nduwimana condemned
what he said were "uprisings called for by certain politicians
and civil society".
Opposition figures and rights groups say the president's
effort to cling to power is unconstitutional and could push
Burundi - which emerged from civil war in 2006 - back into
violence.
Burundi's constitution says the president is elected for a
five-year term that can be renewed only once. Mr Nkurunziza's
supporters say his first term should not count because he was
chosen by parliament rather than by a popular vote.
African leaders and Western nations have urged Mr
Nkurunziza not to run. The United States and the European Union
indicated they could take steps if violence erupted.
Those opposed to a third term also say it goes against the
spirit of a peace deal that has kept Burundi calm for a decade
since an ethnically-fuelled civil war ended in 2005.
Tanzania brokered the Arusha peace deal in 2000 to end
fighting between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups in the tiny
east African nation.
AFP, Reuters
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