Grenades fly, voter material burnt as Burundi readies for tense polls

BUJUMBURA

Attackers in Burundi set fire to election material and hurled grenades, officials said Saturday, further escalating tension two days before key polls in the central African nation, amid UN calls for postponement.

The opposition on Friday said it was boycotting polls claiming it is not possible to hold a fair vote after weeks of violence over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid to stay in power. Parliamentary and local elections are set to be held on Monday, and a presidential vote on July 15.

National electoral commission officials confirmed the attack in the northeast Ntega district, some 200 km from the capital Bujumbura, but there was no indication who was responsible.

“A group of unidentified young people took advantage of the police who were sleeping on duty and torched a building housing election material,” local governor Reverien Nzigamasabo told AFP on Saturday. “Part of the ballot boxes and voting booths were burned, but people were able to save the rest.”

Soldiers fired shots at the gang to chase them away, police said.

Two grenades were also hurled overnight Friday in Bujumbura, witnesses said, but unlike a string of similar attacks, no one was hurt. Gunfire was also heard in the capital overnight, as it has been in recent days.

FAILED COUP

Around 70 people have been killed in weeks of demonstrations and a failed coup that have been brutally suppressed, triggering an exodus of over 127,000 people into neighbouring countries.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called for elections to be delayed after the opposition said they would not take part in the polls, which come as Burundi faces its worst crisis since its civil war ended nine years ago.

Burundi’s UN Ambassador Albert Shingiro however told the 15-member Security Council the polls would go ahead as planned. “The government simply cannot accept to tumble head-first into an institutional vacuum, into a chasm,” he said late Friday.

“Ninety-five per cent of the population wants to move forward and not remain hostage to this radical minority,” he said, accusing the opposition of acting “like spoiled brats”.

Burundi was plunged into turmoil in late April when Nkurunziza launched his drive for a third consecutive five-year term, triggering widespread protests.

Opponents say his bid for another term is unconstitutional and violates a peace accord that paved the way to end 13 years of civil war in 2006.

“All the opposition have unanimously decided to boycott the elections,” said Charles Nditije, a key opposition leader, after a letter signed by all the country’s opposition groups was handed to the election commission.

Civil society groups backed the move in a joint statement calling on voters to skip the “sham elections” and urging the international community “not to recognise the validity” of the polls.

“Thousands of Burundians have fled the country, a thousand peaceful demonstrators were arrested, tortured, and are currently languishing in jail,” the statement said.

Former colonial power Belgium has said it would not recognise the results of the elections.

Several top officials — including the deputy vice-president as well as members of the election commission and constitutional court — have fled the poverty-stricken, landlocked country.