BURUNDI-POLITICS Burundi general seeks to oust president he accuses of dividing nation

Record ID: 147717

  • Title: BURUNDI-POLITICS Burundi general seeks to oust president he accuses of dividing nation
  • Date: 10th July 2015
  • Summary: BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ATTEMPTED COUP LEADERS BEING CHEERED ON BY CROWDS VARIOUS OF CROWDS CELEBRATING ON BUJUMBURA STREETS DURING ATTEMPTED COUP IN MAY ARMY TROOPS OUTSIDE NATIONAL RADIO STATION DURING COUP ATTEMPT ATTEMPTED COUP LEADERS PATROLLING STREETS VARIOUS OF WATER CANNON DISPERSING PROTESTERS VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN INJURED BY EXPLOSION DURIN
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Burundi
  • Country: Burundi
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA10E6CNFQDCQ049NLUGK4LSEGI
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A Burundi general who was part of a failed coup attempt in May said on Thursday (July 9) his group was still working to oust President Pierre Nkurunziza, accusing him of stoking ethnic divisions in a country still trying to recover from civil war.
    "We are continuing the same action we started on 13th May. And then in that way, we are defence and security forces members who are organising ourselves just to continue helping our people not to be continued being killed by Nkurunziza and his team and Imbonerakure and some members of police," said 46-year-old General Leonard Ngendakumana, who asked that his precise location was not disclosed.
    Ngendakumana said the president and his allies were arming the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party's youth-wing or Imbonerakure, widely seen as a Hutu force.
    Nkurunziza has plunged Burundi into its deepest political crisis for a decade by seeking a third five-year term.
    Opponents say the president's re-election bid violates the constitution and a peace deal that in 2005 ended the civil war, which had pitted majority Hutu rebel groups, like the one led by Nkurunziza, against the army, then led by minority Tutsis.
    Nkurunziza cites a court ruling saying he can run again.
    Government officials dismiss charges that Nkurunziza, who has Hutu and Tutsi parents, has divided the nation on ethnic lines and say his opponents are stirring trouble because they fear defeat in a presidential vote, set for next week.
    The United Nations, African states and Western nations have also expressed alarm about the arming of Imbonerakure.
    More than 140,000 Burundians have fled the country. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday, adding that many refugees had cited Imbonerakure militia as the main threat.
    CNDD-FDD officials deny charges its youths have been armed. They say it is a mixed ethnic group that is devoted to political campaigns and other party activities.
    Ngendakumana, a Hutu who was fired from his intelligence post in February after helping write a report for the president advising him not to run again, said international pressure on the president had failed and added that the international community could ratchet up the pressure by delivering on threats to impose sanctions.
    "The international community should take real sanctions against Nkurunziza himself, against Nkurunziza and his team because now, they've committed so many crimes that must be judged," he said.
    In recent months, protesters have regularly clashed with police on the streets of the capital Bujumbura.
    The United States and the European Union have threatened sanctions against those it blames for stoking violence.
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