FRODEBU faction demand referendum

The Augustin Nzojibwami-led FRODEBU party faction has demanded that a people’s referendum be organised so that the “Burundi people voice their opinion on the alienation of their right to elect their leaders to foreigners, the loss of its sovereignty and the partitioning of the country in G7 (Hutu) and G10 (Tutsi)”. In the party’s view, the alienation of the right to elect the president directly or indirectly, is “an act which will have deep and serious repercussions on the life and the future of the nation, and on the nature and operations of the republic’s institutions”, Net Press quoted the party as saying in a statement.

It said that the G7 and G10 pair did not “stop for a second to rethink the appointment of the republic’s transitional president and vice-president in a foreign land and by foreigners”. The party expressed its deep concerned about the conduct of the G7 and G10 pair whom they claimed, “grossly engaged in complete and definite tribalisation of the Burundi people, in an unrelenting race for plum jobs based on purely ethnic criteria”. It said that the distribution of positions among members of the G7 and G10 is too dangerous and politically untenable for the Burundi nation.

The party added that the setting up of transitional institutions before a ceasefire would bring about a situation which would plunge the Burundi people into disarray.