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Burundi strike to carry on
07/12/2007 19:49 - (SA)
Bujumbura - Burundi's main trade union said on Friday that a strike of state employees would go on, even though four union representatives had been freed from prison.
At the same time 5 000 nurses and other health staff joined the protest over pay, their union head told AFP.
The head of the Confederation of Burundi Unions (COSYBU), Celestin Nsavyimana, said the release of the four arrested on Tuesday was "a first step", but added, "harassment by police and officials has not ceased and the government refuses to begin the negotiations we are asking for."
On Thursday, COSYBU and the Confederation of Free Unions (CSB) said they were "extending their strike until their imprisoned colleagues are released and until all administrative and police harassment stops."
The three-day strike was to have officially ended on Wednesday but on Tuesday representatives from the Teachers Union of Burundi were arrested in Cankuzo province, east of Bujumbura.
Other union representatives from other provinces had been forced to go into hiding to escape police on their trail, officials said.
Primary school teachers account for around 65% of all civil servants in this central African country of eight and half a million people sandwiched between Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They have been at the forefront of the current strike, which has been observed by more than 90% of state employees, demanding the government honour promises of pay hikes that President Pierre Nkurunziza made six months ago.
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