Gestern habe ich von Freunden aus Burundi eine E-Mail mit unberuhigenden Inhalt bekommen. Siehe unten.
Am 26. Juni sind in Burundi Wahlen. Die amtierende Präsident will für eine dritte Amtszeit kandidieren, obwohl er nach der Verfassung nur zweimal antreten darf. Die Verfassung wurde aber nach seiner ersten Amtszeit geändert. Der Präsident behauptet deshalb, dass seine erste Amtszeit nicht zählt. Heute will er seine Kandidatur erklären. Es sind weitere Straßenschlachten angekündigt. Etwa 80.000 Burundis haben das Land bereits Richtung Ruanda und D.R. Kongo verlassen. Täglich kommen etwa 8.000 dazu.
„We thank God for His daily protection. I am writing for the first time since the time the political situation in Burundi got out of hand as you have been hearing from International media houses. The situation is not ok here, it is bad! It is a week now that offices and business have been closed.
Without getting into details due to the nature of the situation, we have been confined at homes, roads to town center closed due to the demonstrations. The main road to our quarter (where we live) has been closed and attempting to get to town we have to go to another estate then get a few Buses still operating in that area to take people to town center which has become very dangerous because demonstrators have started beating and arresting people once they notice you do not belong to them….
We thank God that two days ago we manged to get to town at least to go to the Bank and get money so that we could do shopping (food) but while on our way back there were fire and tires burning all over. While in town we passed at our CEF office and the National Director had also arrived wanting to go to the Bank and see if he could get money. The Banks were being opened for a short while and when things gets bad they just close. The Director told us that we should remain home until when the situation gets better. As CEF workers each one has been confined at home because most roads are closed and people are full of fear of the unknown. Burundians have gone through this kind of troubles for many years and anything like this does nothing but spreading panic and a sense of desperation!
Now trust among people has been lost again, you cannot trust your neighbor anymore! People are now grouping across ethnic lines… so it is very complicated and dangerous!
Many of our foreign friends working here in Burundi have been leaving and those remaining have been receiving advisory from their Embassies to vacate! Schools have been closed. Till then we were still not so afraid and still hoped things will get better soon. Also the fact that once people leave it gives hooligans and even neighbors an opportunity to come and steal whatever you have left in the house was making us still hold on.
But today things seem to get even worse after a Bus from the only road we could use to get to town was bombed! Lives are being lost daily and it is getting so scary!
Boarders with neighboring countries are closed and the conflict seems to escalate across the whole area of Great Lakes Region (Eastern D.RC, Burundi and Rwanda). The tension is mounting.
The US and the UN have sent envoys to come help bring people across the political divide on the table and see if they can agree and peace be restored again but on the ground people are losing lives daily.
Please pray for us, pray for the peace of Burundi. Pray that God will guide us on what to do. We are faced with uncertainty . We will keep you updated on what is going on as much as we can. Greetings from Eva. Thank you.“