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Burundi: Authority seeks arrest of opposition at Tanzania peace talks

Burundi

Burundi’s Government on Friday called on Tanzania to arrest several main opposition leaders attending a peace-talks in Arusha.

The Peace talks are in a bid to resolve a nearly two-year political conflict.

The talks are the latest effort by former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa to mediate the crisis in neighboring Burundi which erupted when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term in office in April 2015.

“We call upon the Government of Burundi not to accept what will come out of the peace talks organized by the enemies of democracy in Burundi and not to grant provisional immunity as requested by these enemies of democracy” said Gilbert Becaud Njangwa, President of the National Elections Observatory and organizations for Progress.

The government has once again refused to attend the talks and negotiate with the main opposition movement, the National Council for the Restoration of Arusha Agreement and Rule of Law (CNARED) – which is exiled in Brussels.

“The parties members did not participate, we hav e said that the conclusions of this dialogue does not concern us, as long as we will not be invited,” said Gabriel Banzawitonde, President of the alliance for peace, democracy and reconciliation party.

Bujumbura considers the party a “terrorist organisation” and accuses it of leading a coup plot in May 2015 at the start of the unrest.

Burundi seeks arrest of opposition at Tanzania peace talks https://t.co/YY3mfTF5qp pic.twitter.com/vw4glFIUwo

— INSTAGRAM:- EmicVee (Emicvee) February 18, 2017

Nkurunziza’s third-term run and victory plunged the central African nation into turmoil, with hundreds killed and Nearly 400,000 have fled the country.

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