RWANDA

Rwanda: Academics, Clerics Push for Lifting of Term Limits

NEWS STORY

Source: The New Times

By Eugene Kwibuka

4 August 2015 - Religious leaders and academics have backed a popular proposal to scrap presidential term limits.

They presented their arguments yesterday during a consultative meeting with a team of senators, at the University of Rwanda's College of Education.

The exercise was part of ongoing Parliament-led consultations to collect people's views on amending Article 101 of the Constitution, which currently restricts a Head of State's tenure to two seven-year terms.

During the consultations, most speakers lauded President Kagame's leadership and argued that term limits should be scrapped to enable him realise his dream of turning Rwanda into a middle income country by the year 2020.

"Article 101 cannot be the barrier to people's choice. President Kagame is a hero and an honourable person; we cannot let him go when we still need him," said Aloys Ruzibiza, a lecturer at Kigali Independent University.

Yvonne Mujawabega, an attorney working with the Rwanda Social Security Board concurred.

"We are coming from very far; we should create a legal framework that allows the President a chance to continue leading the country so he can finish building what he started," she said.

Pastor Claude Niyonzima lauded the President's leadership, which, he said, had brought about efficiency in the transport and health sectors, as well as more access to electricity.

"We need Kagame and only Kagame," he said.

Laurent Mugabo, a lawyer, told senators that he wrote a petition to Parliament asking for the amendment of Article 101 of the Constitution because he wants President Kagame to stay in power beyond 2017 so that he can help realise the country's Vision 2020.

While some academics and clerics want to specifically give President Kagame the provision to lead Rwanda beyond 2017, others want the issue of term limits not to feature in the Constitution.

They asked for the lifting of term limits, but with a shorter term of five years.

The senators will compile the ideas collected from the countrywide consultations and report to Parliament which will then vote on whether amend Article 101 of the Constitution.

If approved, the National Electoral Commission will be required to organise a referendum for Rwandans to vote on whether or not to amend Article 101 of the Constitution in accordance with Article 193 of the supreme law.

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BURUNDI

Burundi: UN condemns assassination attempt on leading human rights defender

NEWS STORY

Source: UN News Centre

4 August 2015 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations human rights office have strongly condemned the assassination attempt on Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a leading Burundian human rights defender who was shot and wounded by unknown assailants in the capital on Monday.

In a statement issued yesterday evening by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban wished Mr. Mbonimpa a full and speedy recovery and called for a prompt and transparent investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“This incident, which comes only a day after the killing of General Adolphe Nshimirimana, is part of a growing pattern of politically-motivated violence in Burundi that must be broken before it escalates beyond control.

“The Secretary-General stresses that accountability and the resumption of a genuine and inclusive political dialogue are the best response to such attempts to destabilize Burundi.”

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Mr. Mbonimpa was badly injured after being shot four times, including in the neck, by two people on a motorbike yesterday evening in Bujumbura while he was on his way home.

OHCHR also voiced deep concern at the brutal arrest and ill treatment, on 2 August, of the RFI and AFP local correspondent, Esdras Ndikumana, by agents belonging to the Service national de renseignement (SNR), the national intelligence agency.

“Mr. Ndikumana was taking pictures on the crime site where General Adolphe Nshimirimana was killed on 2 August, when he was arrested and brutalized by SNR agents,” OHCHR spokesperson Cécile Pouilly told a news briefing in Geneva.

“They took him to their HQ in Bujumbura and reportedly subjected him to torture, claiming that he was a 'journalist enemy'. Mr. Ndikumana is currently under medical care, suffering from a broken finger and psychological trauma.”

OHCHR called on the Burundian authorities to launch “prompt, transparent and thorough investigations” into these very serious incidents and ensure that those responsible are held to account, stressing that impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations must stop.

It also condemned the killing of General Nshimirimana and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. In addition, the Office voiced concern about the large number of arbitrary arrests over the last few months. More than 600 people have been arrested and remain in detention without charge, some of them since April.

In a statement to the press, the Security Council also condemned the killing of General Nshimirimana and the attack on Mr. Mbonimpa, calling on all actors to remain calm and to resume an inclusive dialogue.

Civil unrest erupted on 26 April in Bujumbura, Burundi's capital, after the ruling Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) party elected President Pierre Nkurunziza on 25 April as its candidate for the then-scheduled 26 June presidential election, which was twice postponed.

Mr. Nkurunziza has been in office for two terms since 2005, and a broad array of actors warned that an attempt to seek a third term was unconstitutional and contrary to the spirit of the 2000 Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi that ended a decade of civil war in the country. He was re-elected on 21 July.

The mounting violence across Burundi has also provoked a widespread humanitarian crisis as refugees have spilled across the country's borders and fanned throughout the region.

Wounded Burundi activist is hospitalized but not in danger

NEWS STORY

Source: Associated Press

By Gerard Nzohabona

Bujumbura, 4 August 2015 - A prominent Burundi rights activist is hospitalized but his life is not in danger after being shot Monday night, his daughter said Tuesday.

Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, injured in the face and neck, is conscious and being monitored in a local hospital, Zygene Mbonimpa told The Associated Press. She dismissed reports that a bullet remains in Mbonimpa's neck.

The attack on Mbonimpa has raised fears of revenge attacks on the regime's perceived opponents after a top military general, Adolphe Nshimirimana, was assassinated in a drive-by shooting Sunday. There has been sporadic gunfire throughout Bujumbura since Sunday.

Mbonimpa, 67, is one of Burundi's most prominent and respected activists, said Human Rights Watch, which urged Burundi's authorities to ensure his safety and protection.

Mbonimpa, the president of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons, was arrested in May 2014 and charged with endangering state security in connection with remarks he made on the radio. He was provisionally released on medical grounds after falling ill, but the charges against him have not been dropped, according to the rights group.

Bujumbura has been hit by violence since April when the ruling party announced that President Pierre Nkurunziza would seek re-election for a third term. The police used force to break up frequent street protests in which more than 100 people died, according to watchdog groups. Nkurunziza was re-elected last month in elections that were widely condemned as unfair.

A shootout erupted Tuesday on a road bordering Lake Tanganyika near downtown Bujumbura as gunmen in a car opened fire on a car carrying a military officer. The officer was wounded and his two bodyguards were killed, said witness Isaac Nduwayezu.

Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza warns against vengeance

NEWS STORY

Source: AFP

3 August 2015 - Burundi's President, Pierre Nkurunziza has warned against vengeance following the assassination of a senior General.

In a televised address to the nation President Nkurunziza said vengeance can wipe out an entire generation, and therefore called for calm.

A Presidential spokesman told journalists that it is too early to blame anyone for the killing of General Adolphe Nshimirimana in a rocket and gun attack on his car.

Burundi Defeated and Desolate

OPINION

Source: Deutsche Welle

By Domitille Kiramvu

Rifts in Burundi's oppostion have deepened since President Nkurunziza secured his controversial third term in office. Great political skill is urgently needed to master the crisis.

4 August 2015 - Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has succeeded in winning a third term despite protests by the population at home and criticism and condemnation abroad.

The elections were conducted swiftly with Burundians casting their ballots in a tense, angst-ridden atmosphere in which basic human rights were ignored. Nkurunziza's opponents now have to accommodate themselves to his victory while trying to deliver some sort of political response to it. The opposition and other actors are discussing various options, but a consensus does not yet appear within reach.

Their difficulties have been made worse by the procrastination of the mediators, who initially intervened in the crisis with a display of determination only to fall foul of the deceit and unscrupulousness of the Burundian government, which has no intention of listening to, or acting upon, the desires and aspirations of the people.

'If you can see a way out - take it!' That seems to be the prevailing dictum in Burundi's post-election chaos. Alliances are forged and then dissolved, depending on which way the wind is blowing and who has the upper hand. Proposals are put forward one after the other, each one being more hasty, illusory or hazardous than the one that preceded it. And circling above the day-to-day uncertainty is the nagging question: how could all this have happened? Too much blood has been shed, too many people have been arrested, murdered, too many innocent citizens driven into exile.

How much more intimidation, humiliation and deprivation are the people of Burundi expected to bear? And who is responsible for it? The country's rulers, or those who were incapable of dislodging them? Some are pointing an accusatory finger, others seek to justify their actions, yet others feel overcome by guilt, like repentant sinners.

Where is Burundi heading?

What would be the best way forward? Should a transitional administration or a government of national unity be formed? Or a council that monitors compliance with the Arusha agreement and the integrity of the Burundian state? [Editor's note: one such council was formed by members of the opposition in exile in Addis Ababa on August 2, 2015]

Or is armed struggle until the bitter end the only option? Or a coup? Negotiations might be one way out - but who would conduct them? Or would tougher international sanctions against the regime be the answer?

Two factors would come into play in any of these scenarios: Public anger at an apparent breach of the constitution by those whose duty it is to uphold it and the non-existence of a united opposition, which could coordinate various initiatives so that they have the desired impact.

The opposition is fragmented and the regime is exploiting this to dismember it in its entirety. This is painful to observe for the regime's countless victims.

In such choppy waters, more or less everybody believes they can lay their hand on the tiller. Former henchmen who helped create the repugnant apparatus of repression now cloak themselves in innocence. Former politicians choose to remember their past deeds in a positive light, forgetting that the people rejected them for their authoritarian and tyrannical excesses. New arrivals to Burundian politics promise everybody everything.

There is little appealing or pleasant about those campaigning for change in our country. One can only hope that with the passage of time political realism will triumph over the villainy, egotism and thoughtless speculation. May statesmanship and self-control eventually prevail.

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UGANDA

Uganda: Yoweri Museveni's challenger finds route to presidency is a rocky road

OPINION

Source: The Guardian