Burundi: Peace Talks Postponed as President Accused of Murder

Burundi’s crisis has yet to find a solution as the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza refuses to begin peace talks with the opposition.

"No dialogue tomorrow neither on Jan. 16 as many may think, because there has been no consensus on that date," Joseph Bangurambona, the permanent secretary in Burundi's foreign affairs ministry told Reuters.

Last month, negotiators, sponsored by the United Nations, announced that the peace talks were going to take place in neighbouring Tanzania, but a series of explosions hit the capital Bujumbura Monday, injuring at least two people.

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The government of Nkurunziza, who has been for more than a decade in power, accuse opponents for the blasts, however the opposition accused the leader of responding to criticism or protest with murder and intimidation. The political unrest in the country has seen at least 240 killed since last April, the BBC reports.

The small African nation has been plunged into turmoil since last April, when Nkurunziza announced his bid to compete for a third presidential term with the opposition calling the move illegal, since the constitution only allows two successive presidential terms.

More than 150,000 people have fled the country, the U.N. has warned that the conflict threatens the “hard-won stability” after decades of ethnic strife and that it could lead to “potentially devastating consequences” like another ethnically-fueled civil war, the last one claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people.

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