When incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his bid for a third-term as Burundi's president, protests erupted in the capital, Bujumbura; demonstrators rallying around the constitutional two-term limit. A heavy-handed police response largely extinguished the protests, becoming harsher following an attempted coup by a dissident army commander. As police increased their clamp down on dissidence, grenades were launched at civilian- and police- targets during the night, and the country has seen a rise in assassinations. The political situation has now deteriorated to a near insurgency, amidst fears from international bodies such as the United Nations and the African Union of a slide towards genocide and civil war.
