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Grenade attacks rock Burundi

Protests have been repressed since a failed coup attempt, and the country is now gripped by a spate of grenade attacks.

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Since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced in April that he would stand for re-election, the country has been divided between loyalists and the opposition [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
By Phil Moore
Published On 28 Jun 201528 Jun 2015
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Ngozi, Burundi – Protests against incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in Burundi’s upcoming elections plunged this tiny nation in the heart of Africa into crisis in April. The protests have been repressed since a failed coup attempt, but the country is now gripped by a spate of grenade attacks. 

Pascal Nyiabenda was working in a small bar in the town of Ngozi in northern Burundi last Sunday, when a man threw a grenade onto the roof of the building at around 7pm. Pascal escaped unharmed, but two of his siblings, Chantal and Claver, both clients in the bar, were killed by the blast. The corrugated metal roof did little to protect them. Two days later, having just been ejected from the hospital where they had received treatment, Lièce Niyunkomezi, 15, and Fidélité Niyonsenga, 26, sat on the dirt outside the same bar, dressings on their faces. Fidelité had just bought her first beer that Sunday, and Lièce was babysitting in the shack next door. Shrapnel cut into their bodies.

Gunfire and blasts have become a regular nightly occurence in the capital, Bujumbura, often followed by early morning raids by police in opposition neighbourhoods, searching for weapons.

Despite calls from the UN to further postpone the contentious elections, Burundi is set to vote in their parliamentarians on Monday, as opposition groups call for a boycott of the plebiscite, not least because they say they are unable to campaign, due to intimidation of their members.

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Liece Niyunkomezi (15), left, and Fidelite? Niyonsenga (26), right, were injured in a grenade attack at a bar in Ngozi [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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The insecurity has further escalated tensions and fear around the country [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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A grenade blast ripped through the roof of this bar in Ngozi, with shrapnel killing four people [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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A member of the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, known as the "Imbonerakure", takes part in campaigning in Ngozi. The Imbonerakure have clashed with opposition party members [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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Police raids in opposition neighbourhoods are becoming increasingly frequent, as they search for weapons [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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A man is treated for shrapnel wounds following a blast in central Bujumbura, one of several that day [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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A girl is arrested after having been accused by locals of being an accomplice to the grenade attack in Ngozi [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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People crowd into the house of an opposition party member, arrested during a police raid in the capital, Bujumbura [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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The insecurity and police raids have led to increased fear, with neighbourhoods often living under self-imposed curfews [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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Inter-communal violence is becoming more widespread. Here, a family of an Imbonerakure member grieve after he was beaten to death after attending a pro-government rally [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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Pascal Nyiabenda (22) lost two of his siblings in the grenade attack on the bar where he works in the president's hometown, Ngozi [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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Kwizera Nenete's brother was killed on the day of the putsch in Musaga, an opposition stronghold in the capital [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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A protestor in the pro-opposition neighbourhood of Nyakabiga after a pro-government candidate tried to hold a rally here [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]


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