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Bujumbura — A Rwandan journalist has been arrested and charged with “spying” in neighbouring Burundi, law officials said yesterday, as the country clamps down on media whom they blame for organising anti-government protests.
Etienne Besabesa Mivumbu, reportedly working for the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) was arrested on Monday carrying a voice recorder and camera in the northeastern Giteranyi district, local prosecutor Ernest Nduwimana told AFP.
“We charged him with spying because he was a journalist who sought information without accreditation,” Nduwimana said, adding Mivumba was being held in custody.
The government on Thursday said protests had ended, and that the remaining demonstrators were only being organised by journalists. Opposition leaders have dismissed the claim.
Several journalists who have been covering Burundi’s crisis, which has seen weeks of street demonstrations, a violent police crackdown and a failed coup attempt by a section of the army, have complained of being subjected to threats, including death threats by members of the police or other branches of the security forces. Rights group Amnesty International said this week that Burundian journalists were operating in a “climate of fear”, while Reporters Without Borders said on Thursday that some 50 journalists had fled the country “for security reasons and say it’s still too dangerous to go back”.
Relations between Rwanda and Burundi have been tense after Rwanda President Paul Kagame urged Nkurunziza to end his bid for a third term.
Meanwhile, a group of 17 political parties have agreed to boycott elections in Burundi because they don’t believe they will be free and fair, an opposition leader said on Thursday.
The opposition groups are also opposed to the current electoral commission because it isn’t complete after two of its five members fled, said Frederic Bamvuginyumvira, deputy head of a party known by its initials as FRODEBU.
Amid the chaos, which has forced about 90,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries, the government is pressing ahead with elections, saying any lengthy delay would lead to a dangerous power vacuum and possibly more violence.
Presidential elections are now scheduled for July 15 and parliamentary polls will take place on June 29.
United Nations-backed talks between the government and the opposition appear to have stalled after opposition leaders and civic groups rejected UN diplomat Said Djinnit of Algeria, who had been facilitating the discussions aimed at creating an environment for credible elections.
In a statement on Thursday, Djinnit, who remains the UN chief’s special envoy for Africa’s Great Lakes region, urged the parties to continue their dialogue and to avoid violence.
The spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, confirmed on Thursday that Djinnit has quit his role as mediator but said no one has yet been chosen to succeed him.
Nkurunziza came to power in 2005 and won a second term in 2010. That election was also marred by violence, and he won re-election after running unopposed following an opposition boycott. – AFP
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