Political crisis in Burundi as Tutsi ministers quit
Sapa-AFP | 05 février, 2014 19:39
"We refuse to cohabit with the ruling party of President Pierre
Nkurunziza, which is going out of its way to destroy us," Uprona
spokesman Tatien Sibomana told AFP. File photo
Image by: NOOR KHAMIS
The central African nation of Burundi was plunged deeper into a
political crisis Wednesday after the three government ministers from
the main Tutsi party resigned.
The walkout by the Uprona party members upsets an increasingly
delicate power-sharing arrangement between Burundi's majority Hutu and
minority Tutsi communities, who are still struggling to reconcile
after decades of conflict.
The Uprona party said District Development Minister Jean-Claude
Ndihokubwayo, Communications Minister Leocadie Nihaza and Trade
Minister Victoire Ndikumana had all quit.
"We refuse to cohabit with the ruling party of President Pierre
Nkurunziza, which is going out of its way to destroy us," Uprona
spokesman Tatien Sibomana told AFP.
The resignations follow an attempt by the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD,
to force out Uprona party chairman Charles Nditije ahead of elections
scheduled for 2015, and replace him with a sympathiser.
Uprona is the only Burundian grouping other than the CNDD-FDD not to
have boycotted the 2010 elections. The other parties complained that
the vote was marred by rigging.
In addition to the three ministers, Uprona had a vice-president in
government, but he was removed by Nkurunziza on Saturday after he
opposed the party change.
Over the past few months Uprona has become increasingly critical of
the ruling party over sensitive issues such as a possible third term
for Nkurunziza, the revision of the constitution and the distribution
of land.
Several observers see the crisis as having been sparked by
Nkurunziza's desire to stay on in office despite a constitutional
limit set at two terms.
"President Nkurunziza will stop at nothing to get a third term in
office," said Pacifique Nininahazwe, a prominent civil society leader.
Tensions over land also run high in densely-populated Burundi, where
successive waves of Hutus and Tutsis returning from exile have often
laid claim to the same plots. The government body tasked with
resolving land disputes has been accused in recent months of a
pro-Hutu bias.
The constitution is similarly sensitive as -- after decades of
large-scale ethnic massacres -- it guarantees power sharing between
the Hutu majority, which represents 85 percent of the population, and
the Tutsi minority.
Presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe however dismissed the idea that
the president and his party "had played any role in the Uprona crisis"
conceding only that there had been "crises and misunderstandings".
He said Nkurunziza has not yet declared himself a candidate for the
next polls, saying: "Let's wait for 2015 and the opening of the
electoral lists."
A foreign diplomat, who asked not to be named, warned that the crisis
could escalate.
"The situation is very worrying, because an attack on Uprona is an
attack on the Tutsi community," said the diplomat.
"The frightening thing is that a lot of people consider that the
ruling party has broken the delicate balance put in place in this
country, and that is extremely serious."
Burundi's history is marred by bitter ethnic killings, with massacres
in 1972 and 1988, as well as civil war.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2014/02/05/political-crisis-in-burundi-as-tutsi-ministers-quit1
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SIBOMANA Jean Bosco
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