Defiant protesters were back in the streets of Burundi’s capital Bujumbura on Monday, ignoring a government warning against demonstration days after President Pierre Nkurunziza returned to the country following a failed coup.
Small groups gathered early in the areas of Citiboke, Musaga and Nyakabiga — which also witnessed protests last week — despite a heavy military presence. “There were a lot of people around 6am, but the army has fired rounds in the air, and people dispersed,” Alexandre Baryungure, a student, told VICE News.
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Later in the day, President Nkurunziza announced he was firing his defense and foreign ministers following the failed coup, while the government told Reuters it would treat all protesters as “treated as accomplices of the putschists [coup supporters].”
Over the weekend, civil society called for demonstrations to restart, hoping the movement against Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term, which incited the protests in the first place, could resume the dynamism it had before the coup attempt on May 13. “We don’t trust the army anymore, and now there is no buffer between us and the police,” Charles Majambere, a protester in Musaga, told VICE News. “We are scared because now we are alone. This coup has paralyzed our movement.”
Related: In Photos: Masked Protesters Face Off with Burundi Police as Anti-Government Demonstrations Rage On
Burundi’s presidential election is scheduled for June 26 — the second vote since the end of a civil war fought along ethnic lines between 1993 and 2005. But Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third stint, as well as the popular perception that his ruling party is controlling the electoral commission, have created unrest in Bujumbura where demonstrators took to the streets for two consecutive weeks before the failed coup. At least 20 people were killed in clashes with security forces.
On Wednesday May 13, General Godefroid Niyombare, the former head of the intelligence services, announced he was dismissing Nkurunziza and his government, while the president was attending an emergency meeting in Tanzania. Thousands of people flooded into the center of Bujumbura, waving palm tree leaves, blowing vuvuzelas, and dancing atop cars and trucks, celebrating what they thought was the end of Nkurunziza’s rule and an answer to their demands. “We are free! We won!” exclaimed Ulbain Mutare, like so many others at the time.
The euphoria was short-lived. On Thursday morning, Bujumbura woke up to the sound of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, as two army factions fought for control of the city. Negotiations between Niyombare and General Prime Niyongabo, the army chief of staff, failed, effectively dividing the armed forces between coup supporters and loyalists. Niyombare’s attempted coup eventually failed when his men lost a final battle for the control of the national radio station.
That night, Niyombare and the generals who supported him divided into several groups to hide out until the morning and surrender. General Cyril Ndayirukiya, a former minister of defense, was arrested along with two high-ranking police officers. But Niyombare was still unaccounted for on Monday.
Related: Burundi’s Response to Coup Said to be Brutal as Embattled President Reclaims Control
Willy Nyamitwe, the president’s spokesman, told VICE News that Niyombare’s life and rights would be guaranteed, as well as others involved in the coup. On Saturday, General Ndayirukiya was brought before a court in Bujumbura with no shoes on, alongside 17 coup leaders who reportedly had been beaten in jail.
Nkurunziza was able to make his way back to Burundi via his hometown of Ngozi in the north of the country, before driving down in a convoy to Bujumbura on Friday morning. He was met by a huge crowd of party supporters dressed in CNDD-FDD t-shirts, cheering and singing to the sound of traditional drums as the convoy drove by in the city centre.
“We are proud of our president, we elected him. Demonstrators say that the whole country doesn’t want him to run for a third mandate, but that’s not true, we want him to run again”, Fidélité Icoyitugiye, a young women dressed in traditional fabric printed with Nkurunziza’s likeness, told VICE News.
Speaking for the first time in public since the beginning of the crisis, Nkurunziza told journalists during a press conference on Sunday that Burundi was under threat from an al Shabab attack, making no mention of the coup attempt. Burundian troops have been participating in the African Union operations against the Somali terrorist group since 2011, but the country has never been the target of an attack before. Al Shabab has denied planning an attack on Burundi, and accused Nkurunziza of making up the excuse to violently crack down on demonstrations.
‘If the outside world stops paying attention, it will be a blood bath here.’
Two private radio stations were also attacked during the fighting on Thursday. According to a member of staff at radio station Bonesha FM — one of the stations that broadcast Godefroy Niyombare’s coup statement — police and army personnel arrived during the day and gave them five minutes to leave the building.
They said they heard gunshots as they walked out. Visiting the radio studio for the first time on Friday, Leon Masengo, the editor-in-chief, said he found it ransacked, with bullet holes and cases visible on the mixer and a computer screen. “We can’t broadcast without our mixer,” Masengo told VICE News, visibly shocked. “We should be able to find a way to get back on air in a week, technically.” Recalling the attack he said: “They gave us no reason. They laughed when I asked if they had documents and pushed us away. We feel betrayed, and very unsafe.”
Inside Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), a symbol of free speech in Burundi, pitch-black walls surrounded the charred remains of broadcasting equipment. The directors of Bonesha FM and RPA said they have been threatened and have fled the country, allegedly wanted by police forces.
Related: Burundi’s Government Threatens to Unleash Army on Opposition Protesters
According to Willy Nyamitwe, the president’s spokesman, the radio stations “were with the coup plotters since they broadcast their message.” He would neither deny nor confirm whether RPA and Bonesha’s directors were under arrest warrants. “We have a lot of liars in this country,” he told VICE News. “None of the refugees who fled Burundi recently can tell you that they have been wounded, or that a relative was killed, or that their house was burnt. They have fled because of false information broadcast by radio Bonesha and RPA.”
More than 105,000 people have fled the violence in Burundi since the beginning of the crisis earlier this month, according to the UNHCR, seeking refuge in Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Over the weekend, many civil society and opposition figures have gone underground for fear of reprisals. “We ask the international community to pay greater attention to what is happening here, and the international media to keep covering the crisis,” an activist who asked to remain anonymous told VICE News. “If the outside world stops paying attention, it will be a blood bath here.”
Follow Melanie Gouby on Twitter: @melaniegouby
