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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni left crisis talks
between Burundi's rival political factions without a deal, but last-ditch
efforts following months of violence continued ahead of polls next week.
Burundian President
Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to stand for a third consecutive five-year term in an
election next Tuesday, despite a constitutional two-term limit, has sparked
months of turmoil and an attempted coup in mid-May.
"The ruling
party in Burundi and the opposition parties and the civil society have agreed
to negotiate expeditiously, intensively... in order to reach an
agreement," Museveni told reporters as he left.
Previous United
Nations-mediated efforts have all collapsed.
Ugandan Defence
Minister Crispus Kiyonga took over mediation efforts started by Museveni a day
earlier, in the latest bid to push stalled talks between Nkurunziza's ruling
CNDD-FDD party and opposition groups.
Museveni, who was
appointed mediator last week by the five-nation East African Community (EAC),
has urged Burundians "to forget their past sectarian political
differences".
Around 100 people
have been killed in more than two months of protests, with over 158,000
refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries, according to the UN.
Gunfire and grenade
explosions have hit the capital in recent nights, as has been common in recent
weeks.
With the presidential
election now taking place on Tuesday, there are only a few days to seal a deal
between the opposing sides, but Burundi presidential communication advisor
Willy Nyamitwe said there had been "positive" talks.
Key opposition leader
Agathon Rwasa said talks would continue, adding that "there will be no
taboo subjects, everything must be put on the table".
- 'Something much worse' -
Polls, originally due
on Wednesday, were pushed back by six days amid intense international pressure.
But a group of 17 aid
agencies and rights groups warned Wednesday that was "an insufficient
gesture that ignores the risk that elections could spark major violence".
Opposition groups say
another term would violate a peace deal that paved the way to end a dozen years
of civil war in 2006. There are fears the current crisis could plunge the
impoverished, landlocked country back into civil war.
"Scores have already
been killed, but this could be just the beginning of something much
worse," said Ndung'u Wainaina, from the Kenya-based International Center
for Policy and Conflict, a member of the coalition demanding further delays.
"In the current
context of tensions and credible threats of further violence, holding elections
next week could push Burundi into a much deeper crisis," Wainaina added.
Nkurunziza's ruling
party scored a widely-expected landslide win in parliamentary polls held on May
29, but these were boycotted by the opposition and condemned internationally as
not free and fair.
Violence has
continued in Burundi, where troops clashed with suspected rebel fighters over
the weekend in northern regions bordering Rwanda.
Burundian rebel
general Leonard Ngendakumana -- who took part in the failed coup in May to
topple Nkurunziza -- has confirmed that soldiers loyal to the coup plot were
involved in the fighting.
Opposition leader
Alexis Sinduhije on Wednesday said a group of exiled Burundian dissidents had created
an alliance to force Nkurunziza from power, likely to be based in the Ethiopian
capital Addis Ababa.
"The global aim
is to get Nkurunziza out," he told France 24.
"Unfortunately,
I have the impression the only way will be through violence."
Nkurunziza "can
leave now and be thanked by Burundians for saving lives, or he can refuse to go
and be forced out", Sinduhije added.
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