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Burundi ruling party divided
06/02/2007 15:03 - (SA)
Bujumbura - Burundi's ruling party will this week hold a special meeting to resolve differences threatening efforts in the central African nation to recover from years of civil war, said officials on Tuesday.
The meeting on Wednesday in the northern town of Ngozi will "review the party's status, internal rules and the election of senior officials", said Manasse Nzobonimpa, secretary-general of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD).
But embattled party chief Hussein Radjabu, who has been blamed for stoking divisions, said the meeting was illegal because the secretary-general has no powers under party rules to call the conference.
Radjabu is also accused of being behind the unsuccessful prosecution of ex-head of state Domitien Ndayizeye on charges of plotting a coup, which sparked an avalanche of condemnation against the 15-month old government.
Burundi struggling to emerge from civil war
The FDD, which came to power after winning elections in 2005, suffered deeper divisions last month after the sacking of a minister which prompted some members to call for President Pierre Nkurunziza's intervention.
Radjabu said he would not attend the meeting, dismissed the secretary-general as a "mere puppet" and insisted he was the party leader.
"I am the legitimate party president and so I will remain," he said.
"Nzobonimpa is just a puppet manipulated by powerful people who are against me. I know who is behind these attacks."
Burundi is struggling to emerge from a 13-year ethnic civil war that claimed about 300 000 lives.
The government of the tiny republic has come under fire recently over accusations of authoritarianism and failure to tackle corruption.
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