Burundi Arrests Appear to Signal Failure of Attempted Coup, An attempted coup aimed at unseating President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi appeared to have failed on Friday after three leaders of the rebellion were arrested, state radio reported.
After two days of widespread confusion over who was in control of the Central African country, Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, the leader of the attempted takeover, was among those taken into custody, a presidential spokesman, Gervais Abayeho, told Reuters.
“He has been arrested,” Mr. Abayeho said. “He didn’t surrender.”
State radio did not identify the three people who had been arrested, however, and Mr. Abayeho’s account could not be immediately verified.
“I am in Burundi,” Mr. Nkurunziza, who had been in Tanzania at a meeting when the attempted coup began on Wednesday, wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “I thank the army and police for their patriotism. Above all I thank Burundians for their patience.”
In Bujumbura, the streets were quiet and deserted Friday morning, with many people electing not to go to work. Clutches of police officers and soldiers loyal to Mr. Nkurunziza could be seen maintaining order in the town, while the insurgents were not visible. The gunfire of the past few days had largely subsided. Later, throngs of Mr. Nkurunziza’s supporters could be seen dancing and singing in the streets.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement that the situation in Burundi remained volatile.
“While the coup attempt is reported to have been foiled, the situation in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, remains tense with sporadic outbursts of violence reported this morning,” it said, adding that more than 105,000 people had fled to neighboring Tanzania and Rwanda and to the province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
News reports said that rights groups had called for more protests against Mr. Nkurunziza, but that the police had threatened to use force against demonstrators. Activists say they fear that the attempted coup could lead to a crackdown by the president against rights groups, independent news media and anyone who is perceived to have supported the takeover effort.
The scene in Bujumbura was in stark contrast to a day earlier, when Venon Ndabaneze, a spokesman for the plotters, said that the rebels “control virtually the entire” capital.
The events in Burundi are emblematic of a wider phenomenon in Africa — particularly in countries that are trying to achieve stability after conflicts — where leaders have clung to power, sometimes for decades. Experts said the coup attempt, even thought it appeared to be thwarted, would nevertheless prompt some leaders to think twice about trying to stay in office.
“The administrations in Uganda and Rwanda and other leaders in the region will be looking at Burundi and registering that there is a very high price to be paid for miscalculating the level of popular support for repeatedly extending presidential mandates,” said Michela Wrong, the author of several books on Africa.
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, has clung to power since 1986, when he toppled Tito Okello, a dictator who had overthrown the country’s democratically elected president. But in recent years, opposition to Mr. Museveni has grown amid rising concerns that he is determined to be president for life.
In Rwanda, supporters of President Paul Kagame, whose influence extends across the continent and who has support in the West, have been clamoring for a constitutional change that would permit him to run for a third term, in 2017. He was elected president in 2003 but has been in control of the country since the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
Ms. Wrong said that Mr. Nkurunziza’s attempt to cling to power reflected the dynamic of power in Africa: Leaders of countries that have known civil war or conflict seek to perpetuate their rule, abetted by weak democratic institutions and an often stubborn unwillingness to groom successors or step aside in favor of rivals.
Those African leaders who refused to relinquish power, she said, were often former rebel military leaders, who, once in office, tended to see their deputies as potential usurpers or threats.
“These rulers never let go of the reins of power, as all the key decisions go through one man, and the democratic institutions required for peaceful transition are never built up,” she said. “They stay in power because the economy is in the hands of a tiny elite of cronies surrounding the president, and if they leave, they or their families can risk being prosecuted.”
If confirmed, the ending of the rebellion in Burundi would signal a remarkable turnaround for Mr. Nkurunziza, whose future had been in doubt after the former security chief, General Niyombare, said in a radio broadcast in the capital on Wednesday that the president had been dismissed.
For the past several weeks, hundreds of people in the capital had demonstrated against the president’s bid to run for a third term, in what his critics said was a reckless breach of the Constitution.
The Constitution stipulates that the president can only hold office for two five-year terms. Mr. Nkurunziza has been in office since 2005, but he contends that his first term should not count toward the limit because he was not directly elected by voters when he first assumed the presidency.
A court ruled that Mr. Nkurunziza could run again because he was appointed by Parliament, but the legitimacy of that decision has been questioned by his opponents. The election had been scheduled for June 26.
The attempted overthrow prompted jubilation among those who saw his move as a power grab, but the coup leaders were hindered by divisions in the military over whether to support the president or General Niyombare.
On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council said in a statement that it “condemned the violent unrest in Burundi and specifically condemned both those who facilitate violence of any kind against civilians and those who seek to seize power by unlawful means.”
The Peace and Security Council of the African Union also warned against “any attempts at seizing power through violence and attempts against peace.”
The coup attempt threatened to plunge Burundi, a poor country, back into the violence and instability that preceded the introduction of a power-sharing government that took over in 2001.
The country has been recovering after a bloody and protracted civil war, which began in 1993 and left an estimated 300,000 people dead, after the first president to be elected from the country’s Hutu majority, Mechior Ndadaye, was killed by troops from the Tutsi minority.
During the civil war, Hutu rebel groups fought against the army, which was under the control of the Tutsis, fostering anger and resentment among the Hutu majority. Mr. Nkurunziza had led a rebel Hutu group.
After two days of widespread confusion over who was in control of the Central African country, Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, the leader of the attempted takeover, was among those taken into custody, a presidential spokesman, Gervais Abayeho, told Reuters.
“He has been arrested,” Mr. Abayeho said. “He didn’t surrender.”
State radio did not identify the three people who had been arrested, however, and Mr. Abayeho’s account could not be immediately verified.
“I am in Burundi,” Mr. Nkurunziza, who had been in Tanzania at a meeting when the attempted coup began on Wednesday, wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “I thank the army and police for their patriotism. Above all I thank Burundians for their patience.”
In Bujumbura, the streets were quiet and deserted Friday morning, with many people electing not to go to work. Clutches of police officers and soldiers loyal to Mr. Nkurunziza could be seen maintaining order in the town, while the insurgents were not visible. The gunfire of the past few days had largely subsided. Later, throngs of Mr. Nkurunziza’s supporters could be seen dancing and singing in the streets.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement that the situation in Burundi remained volatile.
“While the coup attempt is reported to have been foiled, the situation in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, remains tense with sporadic outbursts of violence reported this morning,” it said, adding that more than 105,000 people had fled to neighboring Tanzania and Rwanda and to the province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
News reports said that rights groups had called for more protests against Mr. Nkurunziza, but that the police had threatened to use force against demonstrators. Activists say they fear that the attempted coup could lead to a crackdown by the president against rights groups, independent news media and anyone who is perceived to have supported the takeover effort.
The scene in Bujumbura was in stark contrast to a day earlier, when Venon Ndabaneze, a spokesman for the plotters, said that the rebels “control virtually the entire” capital.
The events in Burundi are emblematic of a wider phenomenon in Africa — particularly in countries that are trying to achieve stability after conflicts — where leaders have clung to power, sometimes for decades. Experts said the coup attempt, even thought it appeared to be thwarted, would nevertheless prompt some leaders to think twice about trying to stay in office.
“The administrations in Uganda and Rwanda and other leaders in the region will be looking at Burundi and registering that there is a very high price to be paid for miscalculating the level of popular support for repeatedly extending presidential mandates,” said Michela Wrong, the author of several books on Africa.
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, has clung to power since 1986, when he toppled Tito Okello, a dictator who had overthrown the country’s democratically elected president. But in recent years, opposition to Mr. Museveni has grown amid rising concerns that he is determined to be president for life.
In Rwanda, supporters of President Paul Kagame, whose influence extends across the continent and who has support in the West, have been clamoring for a constitutional change that would permit him to run for a third term, in 2017. He was elected president in 2003 but has been in control of the country since the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
Ms. Wrong said that Mr. Nkurunziza’s attempt to cling to power reflected the dynamic of power in Africa: Leaders of countries that have known civil war or conflict seek to perpetuate their rule, abetted by weak democratic institutions and an often stubborn unwillingness to groom successors or step aside in favor of rivals.
Those African leaders who refused to relinquish power, she said, were often former rebel military leaders, who, once in office, tended to see their deputies as potential usurpers or threats.
“These rulers never let go of the reins of power, as all the key decisions go through one man, and the democratic institutions required for peaceful transition are never built up,” she said. “They stay in power because the economy is in the hands of a tiny elite of cronies surrounding the president, and if they leave, they or their families can risk being prosecuted.”
If confirmed, the ending of the rebellion in Burundi would signal a remarkable turnaround for Mr. Nkurunziza, whose future had been in doubt after the former security chief, General Niyombare, said in a radio broadcast in the capital on Wednesday that the president had been dismissed.
For the past several weeks, hundreds of people in the capital had demonstrated against the president’s bid to run for a third term, in what his critics said was a reckless breach of the Constitution.
The Constitution stipulates that the president can only hold office for two five-year terms. Mr. Nkurunziza has been in office since 2005, but he contends that his first term should not count toward the limit because he was not directly elected by voters when he first assumed the presidency.
A court ruled that Mr. Nkurunziza could run again because he was appointed by Parliament, but the legitimacy of that decision has been questioned by his opponents. The election had been scheduled for June 26.
The attempted overthrow prompted jubilation among those who saw his move as a power grab, but the coup leaders were hindered by divisions in the military over whether to support the president or General Niyombare.
On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council said in a statement that it “condemned the violent unrest in Burundi and specifically condemned both those who facilitate violence of any kind against civilians and those who seek to seize power by unlawful means.”
The Peace and Security Council of the African Union also warned against “any attempts at seizing power through violence and attempts against peace.”
The coup attempt threatened to plunge Burundi, a poor country, back into the violence and instability that preceded the introduction of a power-sharing government that took over in 2001.
The country has been recovering after a bloody and protracted civil war, which began in 1993 and left an estimated 300,000 people dead, after the first president to be elected from the country’s Hutu majority, Mechior Ndadaye, was killed by troops from the Tutsi minority.
During the civil war, Hutu rebel groups fought against the army, which was under the control of the Tutsis, fostering anger and resentment among the Hutu majority. Mr. Nkurunziza had led a rebel Hutu group.
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