Opposition leader arrested

Burundian security officers arrested on Friday the leader of a wing of the pro-Tutsi Union pour le progrès national (UPRONA) political party, Charles Mukasi, a day after he was placed under house arrest. Mukasi is head of the UPRONA faction opposed to the 2000 Arusha accord for peace and reconciliation. Before his arrest, he had said that he had received a warrant from the Presidential Police (the government intelligence services) on Thursday, accusing him of "sedition and refusal to appear before the court". "I write and publish my work for consumption by my readers, nobody has told me that I have written inciting things," he said. "I have always organised public meetings, I do not hide myself, I clearly give my opinions, I fight for the restoration of a state of law in Burundi, this is not a secret." Terming the arrest illegal, Mukasi's lawyer, Gabriel Sinarinzi, said: "The people who arrested Mukasi violated the law, first, they broke the door to his house before arresting him and, secondly, Mukasi is in the custody of the Presidential Police and nobody is allowed to see him." Sinarinzi said the government was using sedition charges to oppress opposition leaders. "This is an arbitrary detention, I demand permission to contact my client," he said. Mukasi had in the past been arrested several times in connection with his opposition of the transitional government set up on November 2001 under the Arusha accord. He has accused the current leadership in Burundi of perpetuating a culture of impunity, and has condemned the recent power sharing agreement reached between the government and the main rebel movement, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) led by Pierre Nkurunziza. "Talking about 50 percent of Hutus and 50 percent of Tutsis in the army creates division in an institution which must remain unified to protect the nation, we need a national army and not an army based on ethnicity," Mukasi said.