Burundi bans pre-vote demos

2005-02-08 21:56

Bujumbura - Burundi's government has banned political rallies before official campaigns open the way to elections in the wake of more than a decade of civil war in the central African state.

"Until the opening of electoral campaigns for the different votes, political parties are not authorised to hold demonstrations, rallies or public meetings," interior minister Simon Nyandwi ordered in an official statement dated February 3 sent round the country.

Though no date for elections has yet been announced to conclude a political transition period ending the war that began in 1993, the ban was aimed at "ensuring that civil servants and the people are not disturbed during working hours or while in their fields," the document said.

Zenon Nimubona, spokesperson for a Tutsi minority opposition party, the Party for National Recovery (Parena), dismissed the order as "a ridiculous pretext which convinces nobody."

He said it was intended to prevent politicians expressing opposition to a constitutional referendum scheduled for February 28.

The envisaged changes to the constitution would bring about an overhaul of the country's political establishment - long dominated like the armed forces by the Tutsi who make up about 14% of the population - and provide for an even share of power between them and the majority Hutu.

Not enough

Despite concessions to the minority under a series of accords to end a Hutu rebellion which broke out in October 1993 and claimed more than 300 000 lives over 11 years, some Tutsi parties argue that an equal share of power is still not enough.

Parena has urged people to vote "no" to constitutional change in a country where almost all rebels have laid down their arms and joined the transitional government, and only one group, the National Liberation Forces (FLN) has refused to comply in one province.

The new government order said the only authorised pre-election meetings would be those of "the ruling bodies (the political parties) ... which must be set for Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays or outside working hours."

The population had to give priority to agricultural "production in these times when famine affects several districts of the country", the interior minister said in the document made available Tuesday to AFP.

Between now and April, Burundi is scheduled to go to the polls seven times at dates which in some cases have yet to be specified.

This will include a parliamentary election and a presidential poll by indirect suffrage.

- AFP