BURUNDI-POLITICS: EMBATTLED SPEAKER SACKED

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

NAIROBI, Dec 29 1994 (IPS) - THE BURUNDI GOVERNMENT THURSDAY BOWED TO OPPOSITION DEMANDS TO SACK THE SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT AND OFFERED THE EMBATTLED JAN MINANE A COMPROMISE POST.

ACCORDING TO A RADIO BROADCAST MONITORED HERE, THE FRONT FOR DEMOCRACY IN BURUNDI (FRODEBU) SAID MINANE WILL EITHER GET A GOVERNMENT POST OR A SENIOR POSITION IN HIS PARTY.

THE FORMER HEALTH MINISTER IS ACCUSED BY THE OPPOSITION UNION FOR NATIONAL PROGRESS (UPRONA) PARTY OF INCITING THE MASSACRE OF TUTSI PEOPLE AFTER THE OCTOBER 1993 ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT MELCHIOR NDADAYE IN AN ABORTIVE COUP.

THE TUTSI-DOMINATED UPRONA ON SATURDAY THREATENED TO QUIT THE GOVERNMENT UNLESS MINANE RESIGNED, A DEMAND WHICH PRECIPITATED A FRESH CRISIS AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN THE BURUNDI CAPITAL.

THE GOVERNMENT WAS SET UP IN OCTOBER AFTER COMPLEX POLITICAL NEGOTIATIONS.

PRIME MINISTER ANATOLE KANYENKIKO’S PARTY WAS ADAMANT MINANI URGED THE HUTU TO KILL THEIR TUTSI COMPATRIOTS FOLLOWING THE ASSASSINATION BY THE MILITARY OF NDADAYE.

SOME 50,000 BURUNDI NATIONALS WERE KILLED IN THE ETHNIC VIOLENCE THAT FOLLOWED.

TO AVOID A SIMILAR BLOODBATH, THE GOVERNMENT SATURDAY IMPOSED A DUSK-TO-DAWN CURFEW ON BUJUMBURA AFTER FIGHTING BETWEEN HUTU AND TUTSI LEFT AT LEAST 30 DEAD.

PRESIDENT SYLVESTRE NTIBANTUNGANYA TOLD A CABINET MEETING THE TENSION BETWEEN THE TWO MAIN ETHNIC GROUPINGS WAS AT A FLASH POINT.

HE SAID THIS RAISED FEARS THE TINY CENTRAL AFRICAN COUNTRY COULD PLUNGE INTO A BLOODY CIVIL WAR SIMILAR TO THE ONE WHICH LEFT BETWEEN 500,000 AND A MILLION DEAD IN ITS NORTHERN NEIGHBOUR, WHERE THE ETHNIC MIX — 85 PERCENT HUTU AND 14 PERCENT TUTSI — IS IDENTICAL.

THE RWANDAN CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT AFTER THE HUTU PRESIDENTS OF BOTH COUNTRIES WERE KILLED WHEN THEIR PLANE WAS SHOT DOWN OVER KIGALI ON APR. 6.