BUJUMBURA, (Reuters) – A Burundian general said yesterday he had deposed President Pierre Nkurunziza for seeking an unconstitutional third term in office and was forming a transitional government, after more than two weeks of protests against the re-election bid.
But as cheering crowds streamed onto the streets of Bujumbura, sporadic gunfire was heard in the centre of the capital, and it was not immediately clear how much support Major General Godefroid Niyombare had.
In the early hours of yesterday, a Reuters reporter could hear heavy gunfire near the national radio and television station in the capital.
With Nkurunziza having gone to Tanzania to discuss the crisis with East African leaders, the presidency dismissed the declaration by Niyombare, who had been fired as Nkurunziza’s intelligence chief in February, saying on Facebook that the coup had been “foiled”.
“We consider it as a joke, not as a military coup,” presidential aide Willy Niyamitwe told Reuters. But late on Wednesday night, Nkurunziza’s whereabouts were unclear. A Tanzanian official said he had not attended the talks in Dar es Salaam, and had left to return to Burundi. But Niyombare said the capital’s airport and all border crossings were closed.
The East African leaders condemned the bid to oust him and called for a return to “constitutional order”.
The U.S. State Department urged “all parties to immediately end the violence and exercise restraint”. But spokesman Jeff Rathke said he could not confirm that a coup had taken place.
Activists say more than 20 people have been killed in weeks of protest against Nkurunziza’s re-election bid, plunging Burundi into its worst crisis since an ethnically fuelled civil war ended in 2005.
