|
 President Pierre Nkurunziza said the parliamentary and council
vote would be postponed from May 26. His decree made no mention of
the weeks of unrest in the capital Bujumbura or last week's failed
coup.
His spokesman told Reuters the decision followed requests from
opposition politicians and the international community. The most
contentious election, for president on June 26, remained unchanged,
he said.
Delaying the vote is unlikely to appease the protesters who say
Nkurunziza's bid for a third term breaks a two-term limit in the
constitution and a deal that ended a long, ethnically charged civil
war in 2005.
An estimated 300,000 died in the conflict, which started around the
same time as the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, which shares
the same ethnic mix as Burundi between a Hutu majority and Tutsi
minority.
Some 800,000 people died in Rwanda's genocide.
ARMY "NOT DIVIDED"
More than 20 people have been killed in nearly a month of unrest in
Bujumbura, including last week's botched putsch, but the
demonstrations have shown few signs of dying down.
Following a now daily pattern, crowds gathered shortly after dawn,
chanting slogans and facing off with lines of police and soldiers as
they called for the 51-year-old former sports lecturer not to seek
re-election.
Volleys of shots were heard in the Musaga neighborhood. Moments
later, protesters ran along a street carrying a man with blood
pouring from his hastily bandaged leg, a Reuters photographer said.
The men said he had been shot by police.
[to top of second column] |
South Africa, which helped broker an end to the civil war, called
this week for the presidential election to be postponed indefinitely
to allow stability to return.
However, diplomats fear the longer the crisis drags on, the greater
the chance that the political struggle could re-open old wounds in a
country with a long history of mass killing between Hutus and
Tutsis.
So far, there have been few suggestions that the struggle is being
driven by ethnicity.
Last week's failed coup appeared to expose rifts in the military, a
pillar of post-war unity and reconciliation, but presidential
spokesman Willy Nyamitwe denied any splits in the security forces.
"The army is not divided," he told Reuters.
Nkurunziza argues that his presidential bid is legitimate since he
was appointed to his first term in office by parliament, rather than
by a direct vote.
(Reporting by Edmund Blair; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Janet
Lawrence)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
