BUJUMBURA, Burundi — Burundi’s defense minister says the army will remain neutral amid street protests stemming from the president’s controversial bid for a third term.
Maj. Gen. Pontien Gaciyubwenge told a news conference Saturday that “all political actors” in the country should not go down the path of violence, according to local media.
In street protests since Sunday, the military has been acting as a buffer between protesters and local police, who are accused of sometimes using live ammunition against the protesters.
Burundi’s popular Radio Isanganiro quoted Gaciyubwenge as saying the military should behave in ways that “conform to the spirit” of the constitution as well as to the Arusha Agreements that ended a civil war in 2003.
President Pierre Nkurunziza took power in 2005 in this central African nation.
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