Burundi president hints at going for a fourth term

BUJUMBURA

Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza, whose controversial election to a third term in 2015 triggered a crisis, has hinted at seeking a fourth term.

“We are in a state governed by law and if people say they approve running without violating the law, if the people request it, we won’t betray the confidence of the country.

"We won’t betray the confidence of the people,” Nkurunziza said at a meeting in the southeastern town of Rutana where he took questions from the public.

He suggested a possible change to Burundi’s constitution, which stipulates that the president is elected by universal suffrage to a five-year term and may be re-elected once.

When he stood for re-election in 2015, Nkurunziza argued that as his first election in 2005 wasn’t by direct vote but by the parliament under a transition mechanism from the civil war that it didn’t count under the constitution.

Nkurunziza’s third-term run and victory plunged the east African nation into turmoil, with more than 500 killed in ensuing unrest.

At least 300,000 people have fled the country.

A September report by UN rights experts recounted spine-chilling cases of torture and horrific sexual violence, mass arrests and disappearances and warned that “the crime of genocide also looms large”.

Burundi has a long history of violence between its Hutu and Tutsi communities, which led to the 12-year civil war that ended in 2006.

Nkurunziza acknowledged that he promised upon his re-election in 2015 not to stand for office in 2020, but said it was made “given the situation at the moment”.