Source: AFP
Sixteen Burundian soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of plotting to "destabilise" the country's institutions, military, government and diplomatic sources said Saturday.
Three non-commissioned officers of a paratroop commando unit based in Bujumbura were arrested Saturday, a senior army officer said, adding, "we have proof that they were linked to the plot."
Thirteen soldiers, including a captain and a lieutenant, were arrested on Friday on a popular beach on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in a highly-publicised swoop by dozens of troops filmed by state television.
The senior officer said the plan was to launch a mutiny in army bases across the country, take commanders hostage and demand direct negotiations with President Pierre Nkurunziza.
Their demands were political as well as relating to their living conditions, he added.
Military chief General Godefroid Niyombare said the authorities had known about the plot for several days and were awaiting the right moment to strike.
A foreign diplomat said the government originally planned to arrest a number of political opposition leaders suspected of being behind the mutiny. "But wiser heads prevailed and fortunately they decided to stick with the army."
Pancrace Cimpaye, spokesman for the country's main opposition party, The Front for Democracy in Burundi (Frodebu), said, "We think the government is trying to create a chaotic situation, enabling it to sweep aside all the politicians in its way."
Sources said unrest was brewing in both the 28,000-strong army and the 18,000 police, while political tensions are also growing in the small central African nation ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in June and July respectively.
Burundi has been struggling for the past three years to recover from a 13-year civil war between the armed forces, then dominated by the minority Tutsis, and rebel movements from the majority Hutus, which left at least 300,000 people dead.
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