Burundi’s president, Pierre Nkurunziza: the only candidate in the 2010 election. EPA / Yannick Tylle.
Over the past few weeks the situation in Burundi has quickly deteriorated from the relative but superficial stability which the country has experienced, following the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Accords of 2000, to the brink of civil war.
The downward spiral of events since 26 April, ostensibly caused by the incumbent president’s bid for an unconstitutional third term in office, culminated in a coup attempt led by Major Gen Godefroid Niyombare, a former intelligence chief who was dismissed by the president in February. The coup appears to have been averted after action by forces loyal to the incumbent president, Pierre Nkurunziza, who returned to the country from Tanzania after 24 hours of clashes between military factions in and around the capital, Bujumbura.
