NAIROBI: Burundi declared the small central city of Gitega the country’s new political capital on Saturday, in line with a presidential promise made a decade ago.

A government spokesman named Gitega while also stating that the previous capital Bujumbura, on the north-eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, would in future function solely as the country’s economic centre.

The government "has just adopted an historic bill making Gitega the political capital and making Bujumbura the economic capital," tweeted Jean-Claude Karerwa Ndenzako, spokesman for President Pierre Nkurunziza.

"Cabinet meetings will henceforth be held in Gitega, where five ministries will also be established from the start of 2019," he added, notably the interior, education and agriculture ministries.

Parliament, dominated by the ruling party, must still approve the move.

Nkurunziza promised in 2007 the move would go ahead, citing Gitega’s central position compared to Bujumbura, although the former’s population is barely 30,000 to Bujumbura’s 1.2 million.

The new choice was once the capital of the Burundian monarchy and the opposition accuse Nkurunziza of attempting a symbolic restoration. Bujumbura is today considered an opposition stronghold where the president spends less and less time. One activist who requested anonymity said Gitega was not ready to assume the mantle of capital.

"There are practically no offices to let, few hotels or restaurants -- it’s an irrational decision," he said of the move much derided on social media. "The country is deep in economic crisis and does not have the means to move and instal five ministries in Gitega." </s> Burundi is moving its capital from the shores of Lake Tanganyika and deep into the nation’s central highlands.

Authorities announced they would change the political capital from Bujumbura to Gitega, which is located over 100 kilometers (62 miles) to the east. The current capital will remain the nation’s commercial center, while five ministries will be established in Gitega beginning 2019, spokesperson to the president Jean-Claude Karerwa Ndenzako said on Twitter.

The decision came just days after president Pierre Nkurunziza, who had promised to move the capital there in 2007 because of its centrality, held a government retreat in the city. The region is also the birthplace and the spot where nation’s last king Ntare V was killed in 1972.

With a population of about 11 million people, Burundi is one of the poorest nations in the world. Since coming to power in 2005, president Nkurunziza has solidified his grip on power, with voters this year backing a constitutional referendum that could see him rule till 2034. The decision to relocate the capital is likely linked to Bujumbura increasingly being an opposition stronghold, leading to continued clashes between protesters and police.

By moving its capital, the East African nation follows in the footsteps of other African states. Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, and Nigeria have all moved their political capitals after developing new ones beginning in the 1980s. Many countries including Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana are also building new, futuristic, billion-dollar cities to deal with increased urbanization and growing population. </s> (Bloomberg) -- Burundian authorities decided to move the political capital to the city of Gitega in the central province, from Bujumbura, government spokesman Prosper Ntahorwamiye said Monday on Burundi National Television.

Bujumbura will remain the economic capital as many of country’s business activities’ are based there, Ntahorwamiye said.

At least five ministries and their agencies will start working from Gitega in Jan. 2019. State agencies such as the human right commission and land commission will be relocated to Gitega starting from next year, he said. Other government agencies will move in due course and cabinet meetings will be held in Gitega starting next year, Ntahorwamiye said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Desire Nimubona in Bujumbura at dnimubona@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Eric Ombok, Pauline Bax </s> News 24 Burundi declared the small central city of Gitega the country's new political capital on Saturday,... </s> Bujumbura. President Pierre Nkurunziza on Tuesday signed legislation enabling Burundi to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

A copy of the law seen by AFP and dated October 18 allows “the Republic of Burundi’s withdrawal from the Rome statute”, the ICC’s founding treaty.

The next step will be for the country to officially notify the United Nations, launching a year-long departure process that will make the country the first ever to quit the tribunal.

Burundi’s lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favour of the move on October 12, its latest snub of the international community after the release of a damning UN report in September detailing atrocities and warning of “genocide”. (AFP) </s> BUJUMBURA, Burundi — Burundi is voting in a referendum proposing constitutional changes that could extend the president’s rule until 2034.

Five million people are registered to vote in the referendum amid fears of violence because of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s efforts to prolong his stay in power despite widespread opposition.

Burundi descended into violence in 2015 when Nkurunziza sought a disputed third term.

In Bujumbura, the capital, there are long lines of voters and the security forces have been deployed across the city.

If the results of the referendum go his way, Nkurunziza could get an additional 14 years in power when his current term expires in 2020.

Rights groups cited there have been abuses targeting opponents of the proposed constitutional changes.

It is not clear when final results will be announced. </s> BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) — Burundi’s security minister says 26 people are dead and seven others wounded after an overnight attack blamed on a “terrorist group.”

Alain Guillaume Bunyoni told reporters that 24 people were killed in their homes Friday night and two others died of their wounds at a local hospital.

He gave no further details about the attack in the Ruhagarika community of the rural northwestern province of Cibitoke.

The attack comes shortly before Burundians vote May 17 in a controversial referendum that could extend the president’s term. It is not immediately clear if the attack is related.

The East African country has seen deadly political violence since early 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza successfully pursued a disputed third term. </s> Rodney Muhumuza And Eloge Willy Kaneza, The Associated Press 

 



BUJUMBURA, Burundi -- Burundians vote Thursday in a referendum that could keep the president in power until 2034 and threatens to prolong a political crisis that has seen more than 1,000 people killed and hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighbouring countries.

Many in this East African nation do not see a positive outcome no matter the results of the vote, which President Pierre Nkurunziza's government forced through despite widespread opposition and the concerns of the United States and others warning of continued bloodshed. The country descended into crisis in 2015 when Nkurunziza pursued a disputed third term.

Now Burundi's 5 million voters are asked to approve a change to the constitution that would extend the length of the president's term from five years to seven and would allow him to stand for two more terms after his current one ends in 2020. Nkurunziza has forcefully urged voters to support the referendum.

"Whoever opposes this election will meet God's power," the president warned earlier this month while campaigning.

Tensions are even higher after unidentified attackers armed with machetes and guns carried out a massacre Friday in the rural northwest near Congo, killing 26 people, many of them children. The government blamed a "terrorist group."

While it is not clear whether the attack was linked to Thursday's referendum, it was "a very dangerous development," United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said Tuesday.

Zeid, who has called Burundi one of "the most prolific slaughterhouses of humans in recent times," warned that "everyone will suffer" if Burundi explodes into violence during or after the vote.

Nkurunziza is one of a growing number of African leaders who are changing their countries' constitutions or using other means to prolong their stay in power.

Some in Burundi's opposition, which has faced hate speech from officials including threats of drowning and castration, say they have little choice but to fight back. Boycotting the vote is risky following a presidential decree that criminalized calls to abstain from casting a ballot.

"The only available option now is to use guns and we are determined to use all means to realize our cause," said Hussein Radjabu, who was a Nkurunziza ally before being jailed on treason-related charges. He later escaped from prison and fled the country.

The referendum is rigged in Nkurunziza's favour, Radjabu told The Associated Press by phone.

Burundi's government strongly denies allegations it targets its own people, saying the charges are malicious propaganda spread by exiles.

The international community, however, has long expressed alarm. An estimated 1,200 people have been killed since early 2015, and International Criminal Court judges last year authorized an investigation into allegations of state-sponsored crimes.

As Thursday's referendum approached, Human Rights Watch noted "widespread impunity" for authorities as they tried to swing the vote in the president's favour, citing two recent deaths after beatings allegedly at the hands of state agents.

Opposition leaders call Nkurunziza, declared in March by the ruling party as "supreme guide of all times," a dictator unwilling to leave office.

"President Nkurunziza had declared that he would leave in 2020," Agathon Rwasa, chairman of the Amizero y'Abarundi opposition coalition, told a rally on Monday. "Now he wants to remain in power arguing that he was sent by God" while both the economy and diplomatic relations decline.

Impoverished Burundi has been volatile since the 1990s, riven especially by ethnic discord in the military as Hutu and Tutsi officers jockey for power.

The 54-year-old Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader who is the son of a Hutu father and a Tutsi mother, rose to power in 2005 following the peace deal ending a civil war in which some 300,000 people died. A born-again Christian who won some support with public displays of faith, he was re-elected unopposed in 2010 after the opposition boycotted the vote.

Protests erupted in April 2015 after Nkurunziza said he was eligible for a third term because lawmakers, not the general population, had chosen him for his first term. Critics called a third term unconstitutional, as the deal ending the civil war says the president can be re-elected only once.

Amid the protests, a group of senior armed forces officers attempted a coup. While peace talks between the government and the opposition stalled, Nkurunziza tightened his grip on the army, allegedly by purging officers deemed disloyal, according to the International Federation of Human Rights and local civic groups.

In the streets of the capital, Bujumbura, where the police have increased their presence this week, people say they are worried about what comes next.

One man told the AP he will vote for changing the constitution even though he opposes it because he fears there will be secret cameras spying on people in the voting booth.

"So I will go to vote for 'yes' in order to save my job," the public transport operator said, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda. Associated Press writer Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali, Rwanda contributed. </s> Government of Burundi | Emmanuel Niyonkuru, 54, was Burundi's water, environment and planning minister.

Burundi's environment minister was shot dead in the capital Bujumbura early Sunday, police said, the first assassination of its kind since the country was plunged into political turmoil in 2015.

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Emmanuel Niyonkuru, 54, the country's water, environment and planning minister, was killed shortly after midnight, according to a tweet sent by police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye.

The murder, the first of a serving government minister since Burundi sank into turmoil over President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial bid for a third term in 2015, comes after months of relative calm.

"Minister of water and environment killed by a criminal with a gun on his way home to Rohero, around 00:45," Nkurikiye wrote four hours after the incident.

He added that a woman had been arrested following the "assassination".

Also on Twitter, Nkurunziza offered his condolences "to the family and all Burundians" vowing the crime would be punished.

At least 500 people have been killed and 300,000 have fled the country since unrest began in April 2015.

(AFP)
Burundi moves its capital from Bujumbura to Gitega.