President Pierre Nkurunziza waves as he walks to his car after making a brief statement to the media at the presidential palace in Bujumbura
Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has made his first appearance in the capital since the attempted coup against his government last week.
Nkurunziza appeared before journalists at his presidential palace in Bujumbura yesterday morning. He made a brief statement saying that he is battling a threat from Somalia’s Islamic extremists, al-Shabab.
Burundi is one of the African countries contributing troops to the African Union force in Somalia that is battling al-Shabab. The extremist rebels have carried out violent attacks in Kenya and Uganda in retaliation for sending troops to Somalia.
“You know that Burundi is among the countries that is contributing troops in Somalia and that’s why I came here to contact my friends and my fellow presidents in Kenya and Uganda and these countries are being targeted by al-Shabab,” Nkurunziza said French.
He said his aim in contacting fellow presidents was to look at strategies to stop threats to the security of Burundians.
Nkurunziza was in neighboring Tanzania on Wednesday when a general announced a coup. Loyal forces put down the rebellion and Nkurunziza returned to the country, but he had not been seen in the capital.
The coup attempt came after weeks of street protests against Nkurunziza’s efforts to stay in power by standing in elections for a third term in office.
Seventeen security officials, including five generals, accused in the attempted coup appeared Saturday before a prosecutor who charged them with an attempt at destabilizing public institutions, lawyers of some of the suspects said. The general who announced the coup, however, remains at large. Tom Odula, Bujumbura AP
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