Call for work stoppage fails

Alphonse Rugambarara, spokesman for the pro-Bayaganakandi parties, said they would organise a “national protest movement”, claiming the country was now “back to square one”. According to the private Burundi Net Press news agency, the stoppages are planned for Thursday, Friday and Monday. The parties say they are protesting against “amnesty for genocide and other crimes against humanity, the destruction of the national army, and the arrival of foreign troops to protect the ‘genocidaires’”.

However, sources in Bujumbura told IRIN that Thursday’s work stoppages failed to materialise. There was an increased presence of gendarmes on the streets, but public transport operated as normal and offices were also working normally. “People are hungry and tired of such calls [for a stayaway],” a local resident said. A local journalist added that “last time people lost their jobs”.