Burundi protest organizers on Saturday called for a two-day halt to demonstrations against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s move to seek a third term, which they say violates the constitution and endangers the peace deal that ended a civil war in 2005. Read more from Reuters:
There have been six straight days of protests in the capital Bujumbura, marking the biggest political crisis in the small, landlocked nation in the heart of Africa since the ethnically fueled civil war came to an end. But the demonstrations which started on Sunday have lost momentum in the last few days, with the number of people taking to the streets dwindling. The presidency has called the protests an “insurrection”.
Clashes between demonstrators and police have also eased. The protests have focused on a handful of suburbs in the capital, and have not spread to the provincial towns and the countryside, where Nkurunziza has most of his supporters. Civil rights groups say at least six people have been killed during the protests and dozens injured.
“We decided to stop demonstrations for two days, first to allow those who lost their family members in the protests to observe mourning and, second, we want the protesters to regain energy before resuming the fight Monday,” said Pacifique Nininahazwe, head of Focode, one of the 300 civil society groups that have called for the demonstrations.
