Authorities in Burundi arrested a leading dissident and shut
down the main independent radio station Monday as they battled a second
day of demonstrations against a bid by the president to cling to power
for a third term.
The army was also deployed around the capital
Bujumbura, after the Red Cross said two people were shot dead in clashes
with police in the capital Bujumbura on Sunday. A third person died
from their wounds and two more were killed in alleged overnight attacks
by ruling party militia.
The unrest erupted on Sunday after the ruling
CNDD-FDD party, which has been accused of intimidating opponents,
designated President Pierre Nkurunziza its candidate in the June 26
presidential election.
A senior police official said at least 320 people had been arrested in the unrest.
The president, a former rebel leader and
born-again Christian, has been in power since 2005. Opposition figures
and rights groups say his attempt to stay put goes against the
constitution as well as the peace deal that ended a civil war in 2006.
Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the
13-year conflict, and there are fears the upsurge in political tensions
could plunge the country back into violence.
On Monday demonstrators were back on the streets,
with police using tear gas in Cibitoke, in the north of Bujumbura, to
prevent around 1,000 demonstrators reaching the centre. Sporadic clashes
continued later Monday in Musaga district, AFP reporters said.
Leading human rights activist Pierre-Claver
Mbonimpa was also arrested. A witness, who asked not to be named, said
Mbonimpa was arrested “brutally” during a police raid on the
headquarters of a media association.
Mbonimpa’s lawyer, Armel Niyongere, said he had
not been informed of the charges against his client but believed “the
arrest is linked to his call for demonstrations today”.
An arrest warrant has also been issued for Vital
Nshimirimana, head of a prominent NGO forum. “This is only the
beginning. The movement will not stop until Nkurunziza announces he is
no longer candidate,” Nshimirimana, who has gone into hiding, told AFP
in a telephone interview.
“The Burundian people and international community
are witness to the fact that our protests are peaceful,” he said,
condemning the violent crackdown. The government has banned all
protests, and on Monday also shut down Burundi’s main independent radio
station. “The radio is off the air after a decision by the authorities,”
said Gilbert Niyonkuru, head of programming at the influential African
Public Radio (RPA), which has for months been reporting on government
intimidation of opponents. Broadcasts by the station’s studios outside
of the capital Burundi have also been halted, with station officials
saying they had been accused of “complicity and participation in an
insurrectional movement.”
Relatives of Sunday’s slain demonstrators told AFP that they were shot at close range by police. (AFP)
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