Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bujumbura (Fides Service)- “These local elections are a fundamental test for the electoral process which will culminate with presidential elections at the end of the Summer” a local source told Fides with regard to local elections in Burundi. “The election is important because only parties which obtain at least 5% of the votes will be eligible to participate in successive elections” the source told Fides. “This is why there is tension and in the hills around the capital Bujumbura shooting is heard which could be an attempt to intimidate the electorate”.
A voter was killed and a local observer was hit when a hand grenade exploded at a polling booth in Muyira in the Bubanza province.
The hills around Bujumbura are the headquarters of the National Liberation Forces NLF a Hutu rebel group which signed a cease fire agreement with the Burundian government recently in Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania). NLF promised not to disturb the elections providing the government troops do not attack rebel territory.
“These acts of violence and intimidation are attributed generally to NLF but the situation is more complex because other forces use violence and intimidation to condition the elections and then hide behind the presence of NLF” the source told Fides.
The elections are monitored by an independent electoral commission whose spokesman is a Catholic priest, Rev. Astore Kana (see Fides 25/5/2005). At a press conference on the eve of the vote Rev. Kana said “the electoral campaign has been peaceful and ordered much more than in the past. But nevertheless some attempts to intimidate voters were reported”.
The elections are somewhat overshadowed since the six Tutsi parties (including the strongest, the Union for National Progress UPRONA) called on the people to boycott the vote because, the parties said, “this will only lead to the installation of the worst of war criminals” in other words those Hutu responsible for the massacres of the past. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 3/6/2005 righe 36 parole 407)
