A Burundian army head said President Pierre Nkurunziza and his government were dismissed. A presidential adviser, on his side, said that the statement was a “joke”.

The announcement of his run for a third mandate of president Nkurunziza was the occasion of heavy violences.

The army head said Wednesday that President Pierre Nkurunziza was destituted, three weeks after a bloody political crisis in Burundi.

The coup is at the moment ongoing.

Soldiers took up positions around the same time, in front of the public broadcasting building (Radio-Télévision Nationale du Burundi) in Bujumbura, of which they blocked the access.

Shervin LABANI