Burundi Parl head quits country, denounces Prez

The head of Burundi’s Parliament on Sunday said he had left the nation due to the violence raging there and urged the President not to seek an “illegal” third term.

“For the moment, I am forced to stay in Brussels... I stayed here given the difficulties in my country, difficulties which are due to the illegal third mandate of the President of the Republic,” Pie Ntavyohanyuma told France 24 news channel in an interview from Brussels.

“On the eve of the election ... I would like to say to him (President Pierre Nkurunziza) that the mandate he wants to have is illegal. I would like to say to him that forcing through the election is senseless,” added Ntavyohanyuma, Burundi’s parliamentary speaker.All the mediators in the country are urging Burundi to postpone the election to have an “inclusive” vote, noted Ntavyohanyuma, who is president of the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament.

“He could give up and ... Organise inclusive elections which could reconcile all Burundans who have been exiled to return to Burundi,” he said.

He called on Nkurunziza to perform a “positive u-turn.”UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for Monday’s polls to be scrapped after the opposition said it would not take part, as Burundi faces its worst crisis since its civil war ended nine years ago.