Transition candidate expresses security worry

Former Interior Minister Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi, recently chosen by the G-6 pro-Tutsi parties as a candidate for the leadership of a three-year transition period envisaged in the Arusha peace accord on Burundi, said on Wednesday that the government has withdrawn his bodyguards and home security. “We think it has something to do with what is taking place [in the peace talks] in Arusha,” he told the BBC Kirundi/Kinyarwanda service.

Bayaganakandi said the move was “a clear sign of nervousness and anger in the government following the recent Arusha session,” the Net Press news agency added. During that session, 13 of the 19 signatories of the Arusha peace agreement rejected President Pierre Buyoya as a candidate for the transitional leadership.

The withdrawal of his military protection could have negative repercussions because those people outside the country who were due to return home as part of the peace process would now hesitate, concerned about their security once inside Burundi, Bayaganakandi told the BBC.

The intelligence and security services had also decided to keep a close watch on political parties, especially those which proposed him as transition leader, he added.