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Attempted coup in Burundi
23/07/2001 11:11 - (SA)
Bujumbura - Gunfire and grenade blasts reverberated through Burundi's capital overnight Monday, when a group of soldiers mutinied and attempted to stage a coup, the defenc minister said.
Though information was extremely difficult to obtain, the mutiny appeared to still be under way late on Monday morning. Two deaths were reported and there were unconfirmed reports that a senior military officer had been wounded.
General Cyrille Ndayirukiye, minister of defence, announced on
state-run radio on Monday morning that the fighting broke out around midnight, just hours before President Pierre Buyoya was due to finalise a power-sharing deal with opposition political parties in Arusha, Tanzania.
"A group of soldiers, that we call mutineers, have attempted
another coup," Ndayirukiye said. "These mutineers are against the
Arusha peace accords and do not know the necessity of the accords."
He called on all senior military officers to keep their troops
under tight control and for government authorities to keep
civilians calm. Ndayirukiye also called on the mutineers to desist, return to barracks and obey their commanders.
It was not immediately clear where the mutineers were located, how many were involved or whether they had been brought under control. The mutineers cut the conventional telephone lines in the capital and only mobile telephones worked.
Soldiers seized any civilian trucks or vans they could find to go into the countryside. There were reports in the capital that troops outside the capital had joined the mutiny. Soldiers in the capital appeared to be supporting the government.
Troops also took control of independent radio stations, which
extensively reported on another coup attempt in May, forcing them
to play only music.
Burundi has been at civil war since Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the nation's first democratically elected president, a Hutu, in October 1993.
Minority Tutsis have controlled the government and army for all but four months since independence in 1962. Hutu rebels have fought to overthrow the government and for almost eight years, resulting in the deaths of more than 200 000 people, most of them civilians.
Buyoya was in Arusha on Monday to finalise the establishment of a new transitional government designed to help end the civil war.
Under the plan mediated by former South African President Nelson Mandela, he would lead the coalition government for the first 18 months, after which he would turn over power to a Hutu politician.
While all of the Hutu political parties have signed on to the plan, the two rebel groups fighting the government have rejected the plan and continue to fight. Hardline Tutsi parties have also rejected the plan and accuse Buyoya of selling them out.
Hardline Tutsis in the army are also known to oppose the peace
process. A coup attempt in May coincided with Buyoya's visit to
Gabon, where he met with Hutu rebel leaders.
The only reaction in the streets to Monday's coup attempt came from one group of youths in the Nyakabiga neighborhood of the capital, who stopped cars and asked civilians to join the movement to overthrow Buyoya.
By mid-morning most people began slowly going to work, but gathered in groups outside of buildings to discuss what was happening.
- SAPA
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