Central Africa Archive

Burundi is in the midst of a deepening political crisis that has many observers worried about the prospects of mass violence. Dozens of people have been killed and tens of thousands of people have fled in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare launched a coup attempt against President Pierre Nkurunziza. World Politics Review partnered with the Global Dispatches podcast to produce this interview with WPR contributor Jonathan W. Rosen on the situation in the East African country. Rosen, speaking from Kigali, Rwanda, where he is reporting on the evolving situation, is interviewed by Global Dispatches host Mark Leon […]

For Africa’s so-called presidents for life, bypassing term limits meant to ensure the peaceful, democratic transfer of power has long been business as usual. But as recent articles in World Politics Review show, presidential term limits have now become a frontline issue in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo and Burkina Faso. For the next two weeks, all of the articles linked below are free for non-subscribers. Burundi Tensions in Burundi ahead of next month’s elections flared up this week after a Constitutional Court ruling cleared the way for a potential third term for President Pierre Nkurunziza. Burundi Tensions […]

When Burundi’s ruling party, known the CNDD-FDD, chose President Pierre Nkurunziza on April 25 to run for a third five-year term in a presidential election scheduled for June, his supporters did their best to mark the occasion with festivity. In the capital, Bujumbura, hundreds of youths in the party’s red, white and green t-shirts jogged alongside the presidential motorcade, chanting the party’s theme song. Many had legitimate cause to celebrate. Under Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader elected president in 2005, Burundi had emerged from a 10-year civil war to become what many hailed as an international model of peace-building. Despite […]