Uncertainty Reigns in Burundi After Attempted Coup

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/world/africa/burundi-godefroid-niyombare-pierre-nkurunziza.html

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NAIROBI, Kenya — President Pierre Nkurunziza was back in Burundi on Thursday, news agencies reported, a day after an attempted coup against his government.

The precise whereabouts of Mr. Nkurunziza, who had been at a summit meeting in Tanzania when the uprising began, was unclear. His communications adviser, Willy Nyamitwe, after confirming to Agence France-Presse that Mr. Nkurunziza had returned to the country, added, “That’s all we can say for now because of security reasons.”

In a statement on Twitter earlier Thursday, Mr. Nkurunziza called on citizens to remain calm, saying that the situation was under control and that constitutional order was being maintained.

Gunfire and explosions were heard on Thursday morning in Bujumbura, the capital, after an army general announced on Wednesday that Mr. Nkurunziza had been ousted, but it remained unclear Thursday who was in control of the country.

The government’s hold on the capital was in dispute, with the military appearing to be divided in its support for the beleaguered president and the general seeking to unseat him.

“We control virtually the entire city,” Venon Ndabaneze, a spokesman for the mutiny’s leaders, told Agence France-Presse.

Clashes at and around RTNB, the state radio and television stations, were intense and lasted for two hours, with forces loyal to the president managing to maintain control, though radio broadcasts ceased for nearly an hour.

“I would like to tell you that the state radio and television are still under the control of the loyal army,” the general manager of RTNB, Jerome Nzopfabarushe, announced on the radio.

Supporters of Mr. Nkurunziza shut down independent broadcasters in Bujumbura. One of them, Radio Bonesha, said on Facebook that its studios had been stormed by a group of military officers and heavily armed police officers. Another station, Radio Publique Africaine, which was closed during recent protests and reopened after the attempted takeover, was also attacked.

Protests erupted last month after Mr. Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader who took office in 2005, indicated that he planned to run in next month’s elections for a third term. Critics said that amounted to a breach of the Constitution, which limits presidents to two five-year terms. His supporters contend that the first term did not count because he was not directly elected by voters in 2005.

When Mr. Nkurunziza was in Tanzania for a meeting of East African leaders to discuss the crisis in his country, he denounced the plot against him in a radio broadcast but said he was willing to forgive mutinous soldiers who surrendered. On Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, the country’s former security chief, said in a broadcast from a radio station in the capital that Mr. Nkurunziza had been dismissed.

“The latest developments have increased the risk to civilians in a country already facing escalating violence,” Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said in a statement on Wednesday. “Those in power in Burundi have the ultimate duty to ensure that no more lives are lost as the situation unfolds.”

In New York on Thursday, members of the United Nations Security Council were briefed by Said Djinnit, the secretary general’s special envoy for the Great Lakes Region, about the developments in Burundi.

The Council, in a statement, later said that it “condemned the violent unrest in Burundi and specifically condemned both those who facilitate violence of any kind against civilians and those who seek to seize power by unlawful means.”

The African Union’s Peace and Security Council met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and warned against “any attempts at seizing power through violence and attempts against peace.”

The East African Community, which was hosting the meeting of East African leaders in Tanzania, issued a statement on Wednesday denouncing “the coup in Burundi” and calling for the postponement of next month’s vote because “conditions are not conducive for elections.”

The protests have left at least 20 dead, and more than 50,000 people have fled to neighboring countries.

The roots of the conflict can be traced to a ruinous civil war that began in 1993, when the first president to be elected from the country’s Hutu majority, Mechior Ndadaye, was killed by troops from the Tutsi minority.

After years of conflict, which claimed an estimated 300,000 lives, a power-sharing government took over in 2001. The country adopted a new Constitution in 2005 that guaranteed the rights of Hutus and Tutsis to be represented in government and prescribed term limits.