Bujumbura: Burundians voted yesterday amid gunfire and grenade blasts, with President Pierre Nkurunziza widely expected to win a third term despite international condemnation and thousands of people fleeing feared violence.
The United States warned that Bujumbura’s dismissal of calls to delay the poll “risks its legitimacy” and risked “unravelling the fragile progress” made by the peace deal that ended more than a dozen years of civil war and ethnic massacres in 2006.
At least two people -- a policeman and a civilian -- were killed in a string of explosions and gunfire overnight. Blasts and shootings were heard as polls opened shortly after dawn in the capital Bujumbura, the epicentre of three months of anti-government protests.
Willy Nyamitwe, Nkurunziza’s chief communications advisor, condemned the attacks as “terrorist acts” aimed at “intimidating voters”. Opposition and civil society groups have denounced Nkurunziza’s candidacy as unconstitutional, with many boycotting the polls.
Nkurunziza himself turned up on a bicycle to vote in his home village of Buye -- where turnout was high with long lines of voters.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged calm, calling on all sides to “refrain from any acts of violence that could compromise the stability of Burundi and the region”.
With the election denounced by the opposition as a sham, the 51-year-old president -- a former rebel, born-again Christian and football fanatic -- is facing no serious competition.
In one polling station, the Saint-Etienne school in the centre of the capital, voters were seen scrubbing off indelible ink from their fingers to avoid reprisals from opposition supporters boycotting the ballot.
The International Crisis Group think-tank has warned that the situation has all the ingredients to kickstart renewed civil war.
Former colonial ruler and key donor Belgium said the polls “do not meet the minimal requirements of inclusiveness and transparency,” and repeated warnings it would “review its cooperation” with Bujumbura.AFP
