Interim constitution endorsed amidst protests

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye signed into law a new interim constitution on Wednesday, immediately after it was endorsed by a special joint session of the country’s National Assembly and Senate. The constitution will take effect at the end of Burundi’s transitional rule on 1 November. The constitution will remain in force at least until 26 November when Burundian voters are expected to decide in a referendum whether or not to accept the constitution after the end of the interim period. A special session of the joint legislative bodies was held on 17 September when they voted on the same constitution, but to take effect after elections. With elections delayed till April 2005, Wednesday’s vote was to allow the constitution to take effect in the interim. All 192 MPs and senators attending the special session voted for the interim constitution, but 83 legislators boycotted the joint session. The president of the Senate, Libere Bararunyeretse, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the special session was held illegally. He and other legislators from the Tutsi-dominated parties said the interim constitution was also illegal, as it was not specified in either the peace accord reached in Arusha in 1999 or in the transitional constitution. Bararunyeretse is a member of the main Tutsi-dominated party, the Union pour le progrès national. MPs from the Parti pour la democratie et la reconciliation Sagwe-PADER, led by Augustin Nzojibwami, also joined the boycott saying they have not been consulted on the interim constitution.