OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Senator Coons, colleagues call on Burundi's President to diffuse political crisis, not seek disputed third term

Press Release

Date: June 4, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Foreign Affairs

U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Boozman (R-AR), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) today called on President Pierre Nkurunziza to not seek a third term as president of Burundi. President Nkurunziza has announced his bid for a third term in violation of Burundi's constitution and the Arusha Accords, a peace agreement that ended the country's ethnic civil war in 2000.

"Your troubling insistence on running for a disputed third term has already caused considerable turmoil for Burundi," wrote the senators. "We hope you will use your political talents in the concluding days of your second term to work with opposition leaders to heal the wounds that have reopened in your nation. The people of Burundi, particularly its next generation, deserve a future of opportunity free from political violence."


Source
arrow_upward