Inside Story

Are protests pushing Burundi to the brink?

Fears grow that demonstrations against president’s decision to run for a third term are taking on an ethnic dimension.

Protests in Burundi are raising concerns that the impoverished nation could be on the brink of further ethnic unrest.

At least six people have been killed in several days of demonstrations directed at President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Opposition groups say his decision to run for a third term in office violates the constitution.

Riot police are being accused of using live rounds to disperse demonstrators.

Tensions have been rising since January, with more than 25,000 mainly minority Tutsis fleeing to neighbouring countries.

The violence is reviving memories of Burundi’s ethnically-charged, 12-year civil war, which exposed long-standing divisions between Tutsi and Hutu tribes.
 
So are the presidential polls in danger of overshadowing the reconciliation process?
 
And is there an ethnic dimension to the political unrest?
 
Presenter: Jane Dutton
 
Guests
 
Gervais Abayeho – Burundi president’s spokesman
 
Yolande Bouka –  Conflict and risk analysis researcher at the Institute of Security Studies
 
Andrew Wallis – Central and East Africa specialist.