Burundi protester shot dead in clashes with police

A Burundian protester has been killed during fresh clashes with security forces in the capital Bujumbura amid simmering anger in the Southeast African nation over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in power.

The new clashes broke out on Thursday as police forces fired tear gas to disperse scores of protesters who were trying to march on the symbolic Independence Square at the city center.

Reports said shooting was also heard overnight in the flashpoint district of Musaga in the capital city, where police have vowed to put an end to weeks-long protest rallies against Nkurunziza’s bid to contest a third term in office.

Meanwhile, hundreds of anti-government protesters returned to the streets in Bujumbura’s suburbs on Thursday, as they have done since nearly a month ago, after the ruling party, National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), nominated Nkurunziza to stand in June presidential elections for a third term.

One protester was shot dead in clashes with police in the capital, according to witnesses. The latest casualty came a day after a Burundian soldier was shot dead by a police officer during a protest rally in Bujumbura.

More than 20 people have been killed so far since protest rallies began in late April against Nkurunziza’s third term bid.

Meanwhile, Burundi’s newly-appointed Defense Minister Emmanuel Ntahonvukiye urged the army on Thursday to close ranks following a failed coup attempt last week by a senior general amid persisting efforts by government forces to contain weeks of violent anti-government rallies.

“The survival of Burundi as a nation depends on the cohesion of the army,” a military statement read on Thursday, further warning that a divided military would lead to a situation similar to the war-ravaged Somalia.

Burundi, a small nation in Africa’s Great Lakes region, emerged in 2005 from a brutal 12-year civil war. In October 1993, Melchior Ndadaye, the first democratically-elected president of Burundi, who came from the Hutu ethnic group, was assassinated after only 100 days in office. The assassination triggered deadly ethnic violence between Hutus and Tutsis, another ethnic group in Burundi. 

Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader from the majority Hutu tribe, has been Burundi’s president for two legal five-year terms. His intention to seek a third term is viewed by the opponents as a clear violation of the constitution and the Arusha Agreements, which marked an end to the civil war. The two documents limit the president’s stay in office to two five-year terms.

The incumbent president, however, has rejected claims that he is violating the constitution by seeking to remain in power, arguing that he can still run for president as his rise to power after the civil war did not come through direct votes.

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