• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Africa Horn Now

"We don't take sides; we help you see more sides."

Africa Horn Now

ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ

Published: May 6, 2021

PBS: Escaping Eritrea … [Read More...] about ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ

African Union says Burundi election not free or fair, speaker flees

June 29, 2015 By Africa Horn Now

BUJUMBURA | BY CLEMENT MANIRABARUSHA | Sun 28 Jun 2015 | REUTERS

The African Union stood down its election observers in Burundi on Sunday, saying Monday’s parliamentary election would be neither free nor fair, as the speaker of parliament said he had fled after being threatened and heavy gunfire echoed across the capital.

Residents of the capital Bujumbura reported hearing the sound of grenade explosions and heavy machinegun fire in northern and southern districts, after a night in which at least three people were killed. Burundi has been in turmoil since April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would seek a third term, exacerbating months of protests and triggering an abortive military coup last month.

Officials of Burundi's National Electoral Commission take stock of electoral material for the upcoming parliamentary elections at a warehouse in the neighbourhood of Nyakabiga near the capital Bujumbura, June 28, 2015. REUTERS/Paulo Nunes dos Santos
Officials of Burundi’s National Electoral Commission take stock of electoral material for the upcoming parliamentary elections at a warehouse in the neighbourhood of Nyakabiga near the capital Bujumbura, June 28, 2015. REUTERS/PAULO NUNES DOS SANTOS

Opposition parties are boycotting Monday’s vote and the presidential election on July 15 in protest at Nkurunziza’s move, which they say is unconstitutional, and at rising political violence. “Noting that the necessary conditions are not met for the organization of free, fair, transparent and credible elections … the AU Commission will not observe the local and parliamentary elections,” Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the commission’s chairwoman, said in a statement.

The European Union and the influential Catholic Church have already stood down their observers for the same reasons. Dlamini Zuma appealed to the government and all other parties to “take a full measure of the dangers threatening their country”.

Parliamentary speaker Pie Ntavyohanyuma said he been threatened after opposing Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term. “I was forced to quit the country due to the unrest caused by the president’s insistence on seeking a third term, which is illegal, which is unconstitutional,” he told France 24 television from Belgium. “I personally advised President Nkurunziza to drop his plan for a third term, but his answer was to threaten me, to humiliate me.”

The government was not immediately available to respond to his remarks.

CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION

Nkurunziza’s opponents say his decision to stand again violates the constitution as well as a peace deal that ended a civil war in 2005. Nkurunziza cites a constitutional court ruling saying he can run again, although the court’s vice president, another of those who have fled, said he and other judges had been pressured to rule in favor of Nkurunziza.

Dozens have been killed in months of unrest, including an opposition leader, and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR says 127,000 have fled Burundi. Last week, Second Vice President Gervais Rufyikiri also said he had fled to Belgium, Burundi’s former colonial ruler. In May, the vice president of the election commission fled.

Overnight in Bujumbura, a police officer shot and killed a 25-year-old university student walking in the Jabe neighborhood, his brother told Reuters on Sunday, giving his name only as Alexis because he feared for his safety. Visibly in shock, he said he had seen the shooting, adding: “Patrick was stabbed with a bayonet by the same policeman.”

Also in Jabe, a man was killed in a suspected grenade attack, while in the Kanyosha neighborhood, one soldier was shot dead by another, residents said. Police could not be reached for comment. A Reuters correspondent in Bujumbura heard explosions and gunfire through Saturday night and early Sunday.

Residents said the shooting and explosions resumed on Sunday night in Mutakura and Cibitoke in the north of the city and Kanyosha in the south. They said a policeman had been injured in a grenade attacks in Cibitoke, and a polling station in the district of Kamenge had been attacked by gunmen. No official comment was available.

Many of the capital’s inhabitants shut their businesses and went home earlier than usual, and by 7 p.m. many areas were deserted. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has called for the polls to be postponed, issued a statement of concern.

The European Union has said it might impose sanctions on those responsible for pre-election violence and consider other steps against Burundi, which depends heavily on foreign aid. The United States, the European Union, the Netherlands and Belgium have already cut some aid.

Filed Under: AHN NEWS Tagged With: Africa, Burundi, elections

Primary Sidebar

A New Administration Won’t Heal American Democracy

Published: November 6, 2020

The Rot in U.S. Political Institutions Runs Deeper Than Donald Trump Larry Diamond | November 5, 2020 | Foreign … [Read More...] about A New Administration Won’t Heal American Democracy

Archives

  • May 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • June 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014

Log In

Copyright © 2025 Africa Horn Now · WordPress · Log in