Burundi: Pre-election violence

2005-05-31 14:19

Bujumbura - Two members of Burundi's main Hutu political party have been killed in an ambush as the war-ravaged country prepares for key, post-war local elections this week, officials said on Tuesday.

The pair were slain on Monday afternoon as they returned by motorbike from a party meeting north of the capital, the Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU) said, describing the ambush as an bid to disrupt Friday's polls, the first in a whole series of votes after more than a decade of conflict.

"We have information that this was part of a premeditated plan by one of our political adversaries to discourage us," said FRODEBU secretary general Leonce Ngendakumana, adding that the party would soon identify the culprit and proof of the plot.

Army spokesperson Adolphe Manirakiza confirmed that the ambush had taken place but stressed that an investigation into the incident was ongoing and there was not yet any information about the perpetrators or a motive.

An official with Burundi's national election board said there was no evidence yet to suggest that the attack was linked to the upcoming elections.

FRODEBU is battling its main Hutu rival, the ex-rebel Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), for supremacy in municipal councils in Friday's elections, the first in a series of polls aimed at cementing peace in the small central African nation.

The campaign for the elections, which opened two weeks ago and is set to close late on Tuesday, has seen several incidents of violence including two ambushes on May 23 in which one person was killed and two wounded.

Friday's polls are the first in a series of five elections that will wrap up on August 19 when national legislators select a new president, bringing an end to an extended period of transitional government.

More than 300 000 people have died in Burundi since rebels from the Hutu ethnic majority took up arms in 1993 against the government and army led, by the minority Tutsi ethnic group.

- AFP