Skip to footer

Burundi: 5 generals arrested for plotting failed coup

After weeks of civilian protests against Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial bid for a third term, five generals have been arrested for plotting a failed coup attempt against the president.

|
Jerome Delay
General Nijungeko Juvenal, who took part in the fizzled coup attempt, is brought handcuffed to the court after surrendering in Bujumbura, Burundi, Saturday May 16, 2015. Eighteen soldiers accused of plotting the coup were brought in to face charges.
  • By Gerard Nzohabona Associated Press

| Bujumbura, Burundi

Five generals have been arrested for plotting a failed coup attempt against Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza, a top a Burundi official said Saturday.

Three army generals and two police generals were arrested along with three lower-ranking officers and eight soldiers, presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho told The Associated Press. One of the generals arrested is a former defense minister, he said.

The coup attempt came amid Burundi's turmoil over Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in office. After weeks of street protests against Nkurunziza's efforts to stay in power, a general announced the coup on Wednesday. Nkurunziza was in Tanzania attending an emergency regional summit to discuss Burundi's crisis when the attempted coup started, but soldiers loyal to the president stopped the rebellion.

The general who announced the coup, former intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, is in hiding and has not yet been arrested.

Officials said Friday that Nkurunziza had returned to the capital though he hasn't been seen in public.

Despite the failure of a coup against Nkurunziza, about 30 protesters said Saturday they will continue demonstrating against the leader's bid for a third term,

The protesters defied Nkurunziza's ban on demonstrations and vowed to continue to take to the streets to press the president to drop his plan to run for re-election in June.

"We are going to continue with the protests because our aim is to stop the president's third term. We can see that they are determined to stop us but we are not getting scared and we will not stop the protests. We will continue to fight for the constitution to be respected," said Jean Paul Ndayiragije.

Opposition leaders and members of privately owned media said they fear being targeted in a government crackdown of those suspected of involvement in a failed attempt to overthrow Nkurunziza.

Burundi's election commission said it will review the situation in the coming week to determine whether elections should continue.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Burundi: 5 generals arrested for plotting failed coup
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/2015/0516/Burundi-5-generals-arrested-for-plotting-failed-coup
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe