Burundi

Burundi’s lone remaining Hutu rebel group kept up attacks ahead of the nomination of a new president for the country, the military said on Thursday. Fighters from the National Liberation Forces fired six 60mm mortar bombs at the capital late on Wednesday, army spokesperson Major Adolphe Manirakiza said.

The newly elected members of Burundi’s National Assembly and Senate began work on Thursday to prepare for the election next week of the country’s first post-transitional president. The August 19 vote is almost certain to elect former Hutu rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza as head of state.

Burundi’s lone remaining rebel group launched overnight attacks on government military bases on the outskirts of the capital after reruns of key local elections in six violence-hit districts, the army said on Wednesday. Rebels from the National Liberation Forces opened fire on several positions just south of Bujumbura.

Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) has expressed deep concern about overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions for thousands of Rwandan Hutus who have fled into Burundi fearing persecution at home. ”As each day passes, the situation is growing more precarious for these refugees,” MSF said.

A court has convicted 13 people and given them sentences ranging from the death penalty to two years’ imprisonment for their role in the killing of a senior World Health Organisation (WHO) official in Burundi. Defence lawyers have not indicated whether they will appeal the verdict.

A refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo was killed and three other people were wounded by a South African United Nations peacekeeper during a food riot at a camp in Burundi, officials said Friday. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees , which runs the camp, condemned the incident but said details were still being investigated.

Services in public hospitals across Burundi continued to be paralysed as an indefinite strike by nurses entered its fifth day on Friday. The nurses are demanding better pay and working conditions. Although nurses have been reporting for duty at most hospitals, they have not been working as normal.

Burundians lined up on Monday to vote on a Constitution that enshrines Hutu control of Parliament and the government after decades of minority Tutsi dominance. The referendum will determine the fate of a Constitution that reserves 60% of seats in the government and Parliament for Hutus and 40% for Tutsis.

Two suspected motorcycle taxi thieves were burned alive and killed on Tuesday in a busy section of the Burundian capital, witnesses said. The two men, who had allegedly recently stolen a motorbike in Bujumbura, were chased down by dozens of enraged motorcycle taxi drivers.

Former Burundi president Pierre Buyoya and his wife ordered the killing of a senior World Health Organisation official in Burundi and should be brought to trial, a defence lawyer told a court on Thursday. The Burundian and Ivorian governments should ask for a WHO report on the killing to be made public, said the Belgian lawyer.

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, chief mediator in attempts to end Burundi’s 11-year civil war, warned the country’s president on Wednesday not to try to amend a provisional Constitution to allow himself to run in upcoming elections. Zuma said any such changes would be contrary to a peace accord signed in Tanzania in 2000.

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday that Burundi’s neighbours are opposed to any changes in the country’s Constitution that is to be put to a referendum next month. Zuma said the countries of the region do not support President Domitien Ndayizeye’s controversial proposal to modify the Constitution.

At least five people have died and 105 been taken ill as a cholera outbreak in the northern part of Burundi’s capital has spread since the middle of the month, a United Nations official said on Thursday. A spokesperson for the United Nations Operation in Burundi said 16 new cholera cases were reported on Wednesday.

Hundreds of Burundians have been accidentally killed by landmines since December 2002, when a ceasefire agreement was signed between the government and the three main rebel groups. Two years after the ceasefire, a systemic programme to clear landmines is still only an ideal.

Burundi has delayed again a referendum on a disputed Constitution to let the electoral commission register potential voters and gather key materials, including electoral cards and ballot boxes, the electoral chief said. Burundians will vote in the referendum on December 22 instead of November 26.

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye appointed Frederic Ngenzebuhoro (52) on Thursday as his a new vice-president to replace the dismissed Alphonse Marie Kadege. Ndayizeye made the appointment following a session of the Senate and the National Assembly, during which 196 MPs endorsed the choice of Ngenzebuhoro.

Burundi’s dominant ethnic Tutsi party on Thursday asked President Dominitien Ndayizeye to name an ally of a former military ruler as the new vice-president in line with the country’s fragile power-sharing agreement, officials said. Other political parties representing the Tutsi minority also want the vice-presidency.

President Domitien Ndayizeye of Burundi has sacked his deputy, Alphonse-Marie Kadege, the president’s spokesperson said on Wednesday, two days after Kadege said he doubted a crucial constitutional referendum could be held as planned later this month. ”The head of state has sacked his vice-president,” said the spokesperson.

Three days after Burundi’s interim Constitution came into effect, fighting among the major political parties has not broken out as many people had feared, and leaders who once advocated violence now agree to submit to the constitutional authority. A referendum on a draft Constitution has been delayed to November 26 this year.

War-ravaged Burundi’s transitional President, Domitien Ndayizeye, said on Monday he will retire from politics at the end of his term in office, which is due to expire in April next year. ”The last 18 months have been very tiring. I feel old enough not to continue in politics,” Ndayizeye, who is 52, told reporters.

More than 1 000 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugees were still stuck on Saturday night in a strip of no man’s land between their country and neighbouring Burundi, despite promises by a DRC official that they would be allowed home. Civilians on the DRC side of the border erected barricades on Saturday.

Burundi’s main Tutsi political parties have presented an alternative Constitution for the Central African nation, saying their basic law is more balanced than the text passed by Parliament last week. The draft Constitution incorporates articles that were proposed in a power-sharing accord signed in Pretoria at the beginning of last month.

The former main rebel group in Burundi said on Tuesday it will resume participation in the transitional government of the central African country, after suspending its membership early in May. The Forces for the Defence of Democracy said the move comes because progress has been made towards peace.

Fighting between Burundi’s army and the Central African country’s last active rebel group, which broke out just a day after both sides agreed to stop attacking each other, ended overnight, rebel and army sources said on Friday. The clash flared up near the capital at about 1pm local time on Thursday.