Burundi’s deputy vice-president Alice Nzomukunda recently resigned from office, citing rising human rights abuses, corruption and mismanagement, which she blamed on Hussein Radjabu, the president of the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy Forces for the Defence of Democracy.
“The government that I am leaving has been pushed into a situation of total incapacity by the president of the [national council], the honourable Hussein Radjabu. He respects and fears nothing … he turns people against one another, he propagates lies, he does not respect the institutions of the republic,” Nzomukunda said in a speech to the media.
Nzomukunda’s resignation comes amid rising tensions following an alleged foiled coup last month. Local and international observers believe that the coup was instigated by the Radjabu camp in the ruling party in order to distract attention from allegations of corruption. Seven people, including the country’s former president Domitien Ndayizeye and vice-president Alphonse Kadege, remain in prison on charges of coup-plotting.
Last week, the Burundian government demanded that Nureldin Satti, the head of the United Nations Mission in Burundi be replaced following statements he made in which he cast doubt on the veracity of the coup-plot claims. Satti has also denounced accusations made by local human rights groups that security services tortured some of the detainees.
Jan van Eck, a specialist on the Burundi peace process associated with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, warns that the confusion and intrigue in the Burundian government threaten to undermine ongoing peace talks between the government and National Liberation Forces — the last remaining rebel group outside of government.
“Unfortunately, this resignation and all the other things that recently developed are all directly and negatively affecting what is happening here in Dar es Salaam,” Van Eck told the Mail & Guardian from the Tanzanian capital, where the latest negotiations between the government and the FNL are taking place.
“It undermines the ability of the FNL to treat the government seriously as they accuse them of human rights abuses. Secondly, developments in Burundi convince the FNL that they cannot return to Burundi after signing here, as they will also be put in jail. And thirdly, it undermines their belief that the government will honour or implement any agreement which they sign … because they say that the government is violating all the recent peace accords they signed and the new constitution.”
Meanwhile, Reporters without Borders this week warned that rising political tensions could lead to further crackdowns on freedom of speech and journalists critical of the government. It also condemned Radjabu for veiled threats he made against the media during a public celebration of the first anniversary of the inauguration of the current government.
“Describing journalists who criticise the government as “talking skulls,” Radjabu called for the moral of a folk tale to be applied to them, one about a meeting between a man and a decapitated head in which the man asks, ‘What did you die of, sir?’ and the head replies, ‘I died a natural death, but you will die as a result of what you say.'”