BUJUMBURA, (Reuters) – Burundi’s constitutional court yesterday cleared the way for President Pierre Nkurunziza to bid for a third term in office, angering protesters on the streets of the capital who are demanding he back down.
Police fired shots in the air and tear gas to disperse a group of about 75 demonstrators approaching the U.S. embassy, an embassy statement said, noting that it had not asked for help.
The opposition says Nkurunziza’s plan to stand in a June election violates the constitution and a peace deal that ended a 1993-2005 war between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority.
More than a week of protests have plunged the African nation into its worst crisis since that conflict. Civil society groups say a dozen people have been killed, while more than 30,000 have fled to neighbouring states fearing more ethnic violence.
“The renewal of the presidential term through direct universal suffrage for five years is not against the constitution of Burundi,” a court statement said.
The government urged protesters to accept the ruling and stop “illegal” protests.
But opposition parties and protesters have denounced it.
“The first term we accepted. The second term we accepted. We will never accept the third term,” the demonstrators shouted outside a hotel where ministers met opposition leaders, civil society groups and diplomats. Police soon pushed them away.
The constitution and Arusha peace deal limit the president to two terms. But the court, in a seven-page statement, included the point that the president’s first term in which he was not elected by popular vote was transitional so should not count.
