Opposition Activists in Burundi Fear Crackdown After President’s Return
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Version 0 of 1. Opposition activists in Burundi expressed concern on Friday that President Pierre Nkurunziza would intensify a crackdown on dissent after having thwarted a coup attempt and returning to the capital, Bujumbura. Ketty Nivyabandi, a poet who helped lead all-female street protests this week against the president’s plans to run for a third term in elections next month, wrote on Twitter that demonstrators were now in danger of being branded coup supporters. Ms. Nivyabandi and hundreds of other protesters managed to rally without incident in Bujumbura on Sunday. When they gathered again on Wednesday, just before the attempted coup was announced, the demonstrators were attacked by the police with tear gas and water cannons. As French correspondents in Burundi reported on Thursday, private radio stations, which provide most of the population with a source of independent news about the government, were forced off the air this week in gun and grenade attacks attributed to forces loyal to the president. “Since the radio stations are no longer working,” Ms. Nivyabandi told France 24, “people try to stay informed via the Internet, and others call each other on the phone to spread news.” Only a tiny minority of Burundi’s citizens have access to social networks, however, and activists say that the government was already blocking both WhatsApp and Facebook. “For some reason, they haven’t been able to block Twitter,” Ms. Nivyabandi told BBC Africa in an interview earlier this week. After some initial confusion about his whereabouts, images of Mr. Nkurunziza being greeted by supporters spread on Twitter and Facebook on Friday. Despite the president’s return, opposition activists tried to maintain hope that their effort to prevent him from remaining in office could yet succeed. |