Burundi recognises party leader

2010-08-05 22:31

Bujumbura - Burundi's government has recognised the new head of the main opposition party after the former leader, an ex-rebel chief, was deposed by dissident party cadres, a letter released on Thursday showed.

Agathon Rwasa, seen as President Pierre Nkurunziza's main rival in June elections until he led an opposition boycott of the vote, was replaced on Sunday in an extraordinary congress of the National Liberation Forces (FNL).

In the letter, Interior Minister Edouard Nduwimana told Rwasa's successor, Emmanuel Miburo, that he took note of the resolutions of the congress and considered him to be "the legal representative of the FNL".

"I wish you full success," the minister said.

The vote that deposed Rwasa was organised by dissident cadres in the FNL who work in government institutions.

Rwasa's backers have described the congress as a masquerade arranged by the authorities, after the party's gains in elections.

In hiding

Rwasa led the FNL during Burundi's 1993-2006 civil war and turned it into a political party at the end of that conflict, which claimed an estimated 300 000 lives.

He went into hiding after local government elections on May 14 which the opposition claimed saw massive fraud at the polls in favour of the president's CNDD-FDD.

A foreign diplomat in Bujumbura who asked not to be identified said the official recognition of Miburo "means that the authorities have just declared Agathon Rwasa as an outlaw and that they will no longer deal with him".

"This will make Rwasa a bit more radical yet and will probably push him into taking up arms, but the government feels stronger than ever and doesn't worry about it," the diplomat said.

Rwasa led an opposition boycott of Burundi's string of elections following the results of the local polls in May that he said had been rigged. From hiding, he issued an audio tape to say that he feared for his life.

Nkurunziza and his CNDD-FDD have won presidential and parliamentary polls virtually unopposed, shattering hopes that Burundi's electoral marathon would seal past democratic efforts and a fledgling peace deal.

- SAPA