Who Is in Charge of Burundi?

On Wednesday evening, citizens of Burundi went to sleep while it remained unclear exactly who is in charge of their country. Earlier in the day, Major General Godefroid Niyombare announced that he had deposed Pierre Nkurunziza, leader of the tiny east African country, while the president was at a summit in Tanzania. (Three months ago, Niyombare was dismissed as the country’s intelligence chief.)

The general’s radio announcement set off wide celebrations in the capital Bujumbura and police seemed to withdraw from the streets. From afar, however, Nkurunziza rejected the claims in a statement posted on social media.

"A group of soldiers mutinied this morning and made a fantasy declaration of a coup d'etat," said the statement. "This attempted coup was foiled and these people ... are sought by defense and security forces so they are brought to justice."

At The Week, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry offered some background:

The incumbent president (Pierre Nkurunziza) wants to run for a third term, in defiance of the country's constitution; people are rioting in the streets; the police are cracking down; people are dying; the stench of a coup, or a civil war, or worse, is in the air.

The country’s history should inspire fear that the situation could devolve into mass violence; Burundi has a legacy of ethnic tension in the wake of a 12-year civil war that ended in 2005, and the country remains politically unstable.

At the summit in Tanzania, a number of African leaders offered their support for the embattled president. As of Wednesday night, it was unclear where Nkurunziza was. The BBC cited unconfirmed reports that Nkurunziza had attempted to fly back to Burundi but reversed course back to Tanzania.