Burundi party chief seeks refuge

2007-01-23 08:08

Bujumbura - Burundi ruling party leader Hussein Radjabu took refuge in a South African embassy here on Monday amid security fears after his bodyguards were unexpectedly changed, said reports.

Radjabu said: "I had gone to the South African embassy for consultations and when I left I was told that there had been orders saying that my bodyguards had to be changed.

"I have been for a long time in the underground, so I know what such orders mean. I am not escaping, but I will stay here until the situation is clarified."

The order to change Radjabu's bodyguards was confirmed by an unnamed Burundi secret service official. Radjabu arrived at the embassy at 10:00.

The report came hours after six cabinet ministers urged President Pierre Nkurunziza to intervene in a crisis within Burundi's ruling party, which they warned risked undermining peace in the war-torn country.

Radjabu 'blamed for controversies'

The Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), a former rebel movement which had been in power since winning elections in 2005, had been riven by division since last week's sacking of planning minister Dieudonne Ngowembona.

The move had fuelled discontent towards Radjabu, who had been blamed for a number of recent controversies, including an unsuccessful prosecution of ex-head of state Domitien Ndayizeye on charges of coup plotting.

Trade minister Jean Bigirima read a declaration signed by the six ministers at a press conference, which called on Nkurunziza "to do everything within your power to lead everyone in a peaceful direction and towards dialogue within the leadership organs of our party".

The ministers expressed their "deep concerns at the attempts at internal division, which have shaken our party and which are in danger of affecting the peace" in Burundi.

Burundi was struggling to emerge from a 13-year, ethnically driven civil war that had claimed at least 300 000 lives.

The government of the tiny Central African Republic had come under fire recently over accusations of authoritarianism and failure to tackle corruption.

- AFP