Burundi govt says it kills 22 in pre-election violence
The Burundi government said on Tuesday it had killed at least 22 "wrongdoers" in the hills overlooking the primary city Bujumbura since the other day, in what it referred to as violence associated with a presidential election scheduled for May.The authorities said two members of the authorities force were killed and six attackers were captured. They gave few further information regarding the nature of the unrest.
"Wrongdoers took benefit of this electoral period thinking persons are distracted," police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said on the state broadcaster RTNB. "The populace should keep your cool because security officers are ensuring its security." Burundi, which has a similar ethnic composition to neighboring Rwanda, has suffered from decades of ethnic and political violence, including a 1993-2005 civil war in which 300,000 persons died, mostly civilians.
The election in-may will chose a successor to President Pierre Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader who has held power since 2005. His three conditions in office have observed sporadic violence and international accusations of human rights abuses, which his government denies.
The ruling CNDD-FDD party's candidate, Evariste Ndayishimiye, a retired army general who heads the department of military affairs in the president's office, faces a former rebel leader, Agathon Rwasa, of the opposition CNL party.
