Burundi Holds Elections After Night of Gunfire and Grenade Attacks

Marc Santora, The New York times

29 June 2015

BUJUMBURA, Burundi — After a night filled with gunfire and grenade explosions, polling stations in the capital of this central African nation opened Monday morning to thin crowds, as many people gripped by fear and uncertainty chose to stay home.

Despite international calls for the postponement of Burundi’s parliamentary and local elections on Monday, and of the presidential election scheduled for July 15, the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza pressed ahead, saying that a delay would only add to instability.

At least three polling stations in the capital, Bujumbura, were attacked overnight. Government and security officials declined to comment on the attacks or to say whether there had been any casualties.

“I cannot disclose anything right now,” said Pierre Nkurikiye, the deputy spokesman for the police. “We are busy ensuring security for the elections.”

Although this small, landlocked nation may not be strategically important or loaded with natural resources prized by the West, developments here can have consequences far beyond its borders. Already, more than 127,000 people have fled the nation, straining the neighboring countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.

The ethnic divisions that have plagued Burundi are present elsewhere in the region, and a conflagration here could dangerously ripple outward.

The elections are being closely watched by other African leaders who hope to hold on to power despite constitutional limits. Some international observers fear that if Mr. Nkurunziza is able to hold onto office, others will be further encouraged to follow suit.

Many polling centers in the capital were relocated at the last minute for security reasons, leading to confusion and delays on Monday and potentially contributing to a low turnout.

Voters lined up for hours in neighborhoods considered to be strongholds for the president and the government’s election commission said the turnout was “enormous,” but most of the city was deserted, with the streets empty of cars and the normally bustling markets shuttered.

At a half-dozen polling stations, only a trickle of people were seen voting, pressing an ink-stained thumb on a ballot.

Unofficial results are expected on Thursday or Friday, and final results are expected in a week.

Scores of police officers and heavily armed soldiers were present to offer protection, but they also served as a reminder of who holds power in the country.

Several voters said they were casting a ballot simply so that they could produce a voting card if asked.

“I am afraid like any other human being,” said a 47-year-old civil servant who declined to give his name. “I am going to vote only because I do not want to lose my job.”

When Mr. Nkurunziza first announced in April that he would run for a third term, opposition groups said that he was violating the Constitution and took to the streets to protest.

The president has said that because he was appointed by Parliament for his first term, that term did not count toward the two-term limit. In early May, the country’s constitutional court backed his bid.

The protests continued and quickly turned violent, with scores of demonstrators killed. In mid-May, an army general tried to seize control of the government while the president was out of the country, but the coup failed.

There have been no further large protests, but instead attacks in the dark of night. Most independent news outlets have been forced into silence, many local journalists have fled the country, and the main independent radio station was firebombed.

In the absence of reliable information, rumor can hold sway, furthering the deep uncertainty in this impoverished nation of 10 million.

Nearly every major opposition party announced a boycott of the elections last week, but their names were still on the ballot. The national election commission said it never received letters from the parties.

President Pierre Nkurunziza arrived by bicycle to vote in parliamentary elections in Ngozi, Burundi. CreditGildas Ngingo/Associated Press

As a result, only four of the 11 parties listed on the ballots were actually taking part in the election.

Pierre Claver Ndayicariye, the commission’s president, said that the unrest had been largely limited to the capital. He dismissed the concerns of outsiders, including the United States government, which withdrew its financial support for the elections.

“We don’t assure the international community,” he said. “We assure the Burundi people.”

Mr. Ndayicariye said that he had not been shaken by recent high-level defections from the government, most recently the president of the Parliament, who fled to Brussels and called on the president to step down.

“In Africa, to boycott is just another way of doing politics,” Mr. Ndayicariye said.

About 3.8 million people were eligible to vote on Monday, and Mr. Ndayicariye said that the process would be “transparent, clear and fair.”

Many groups that would normally serve as observers, however, including the African Union, decided not participate, and on Monday the European Union said it would withdraw its observers.

For many in Burundi, choosing between the governing party and the opposition is not a main concern. They are mindful that the civil war that began here in 1993 and that consumed the country for more than a decade was set off with little warning.

“If the elections are delayed, we could have many more problems,” Issa Juma, 46, said. “The more this drags on, the more dangerous the situation will become.

Mr. Issa said that he would vote for the governing party, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy, but he blamed all politicians for the unrest.

After a week of sleepless nights, with his windows rattling with the sound of gunfire and explosions, he said that it did not matter who was responsible for the violence.

Soldiers guarded a pile of weapons left by comrades voting in Bujumbura.CreditPhil Moore/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“I can’t say if the violence will be red, green or yellow,” he said, referring to the colors of various parties. “Violence brings more violence.”

If the situation does not improve, he added, the country could find itself plunged back into the depths of despair and war.

An estimated 300,000 people were killed during the civil war, which quickly took on an ethnic dimension as the two dominant groups — Hutu and Tutsi — fought for control.

During the recent unrest, politicians and civilians have been careful in their references to ethnic strife. They generally say it is a thing of the past, but the longer they talk, the more they mention the topic.

Burundi gained its independence from Belgium in 1962, but it was plagued from the outset by tension between the Tutsi minority, which held most of the power, and the Hutu majority.

The nation seemed ready to turn a corner after its first democratic presidential election, in 1993, in which Melchior Ndadaye became the country’s first Hutu head of state.

A few months later, he was assassinated. War followed.

More than a decade later, a peace accord was signed and Mr. Nkurunziza came to power.

That peace accord, as well as the Constitution, established presidential term limits.

Mr. Nkurunziza’s critics say that the country is on course for lawlessness and tyranny if he wins a third term.

His supporters, who came out in force on Monday, counter that the opposition is fueling the unrest.

“For 10 years, we have had peace,” said Pie Harushima, 29, who voted in a neighborhood known to be a base of support for the president. “These people who are fleeing the country, they are at the end of their terms and they just want to hold onto power. It is the opposition that is terrorizing the people. We just want the protests to end. If not, the past troubles could return.”

———————

by

by