“I was very encouraged that the political leaders whether they are…in government or the ruling party or opposition, they promised that they will engage in inclusive dialogue”.
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U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, right, and Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza shake hands during a joint press conference in Bujumbura, Burundi.
At least four people were killed in fresh attacks ahead of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s arrival in Bujumbura Monday, his first visit to Burundi since a crisis began in April past year.
“It was at around 8.00 p.m. last night when gunmen entered in a bar and opened fire, killing two people while two others were injured and were admitted in a nearby hospital of Ijenda”, he told Reuters.
Grenade blasts have become commonplace in the capital, but it remains unclear who carries out the attacks, which have increased in the past three weeks.
Since Nkurunziza won the presidential elections in July, clashes between loyalists and the opposition have turned increasingly violent.
Ban’s visit comes after authorities canceled arrest warrants issued for opposition figures, including Leonard Nyangoma, head of the Cnared coalition that protested Nkurunziza’s re-election, and Gervais Rufyikiri, a former vice president.
Ban should ask Nkurunziza to allow independent experts to investigate rights abuses and the allegation of mass graves, Leonard Nyangoma, chairman of CNARED, said by phone.
France meanwhile proposed at the United Nations that a UN police force be deployed in Burundi to help quell the violence, according to a draft text obtained by AFP on Monday.
Ban earlier Monday arrived in Bujumbura for talks with President Pierre Nkurunziza on resolving the 10-month crisis that has left more than 400 people dead, and driven over 240,000 across the border.
In his statement, Nkurunziza said he is ready to talk to his opponents and urged Ban “to persuade Rwanda to stop its aggression against Burundi”.
“We want to seize upon this convergence of worldwide efforts to break the cycle and try to generate positive movement in Burundi”, said French Ambassador Francois Delattre. As many as 300,000 people died in an ethnically charged civil war in Burundi that ended in 2005.
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The U.N.is under growing pressure to show it can halt the bloodshed, two decades after the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the Hutu majority in neighbouring Rwanda, which has a similar ethnic make-up to Burundi.
