10:59
President
Nkurunziza was re-elected in July in an election boycotted by the opposition.
The United States and European Union said the vote was neither free nor fair.
The
decision by Nkurunziza to run for a third term sparked anger from many
Burundians who said he was violating the constitution and the Arusha Accord
that ended the country's 13-year civil war.
U.S.
President Barack Obama says he plans to remove Burundi from a U.S. trade
preference program because of a worsening crackdown on the political opposition
there, after Burundi's president took a controversial third term in office.
In
a letter to Congress Friday, Obama said the violence against Burundi's
opposition includes "assassinations, extra-judicial killings, arbitrary
arrests and torture."
The
measure to drop Burundi from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) will
take effect on January 1. AGOA allows eligible African countries to import
certain products without paying any duties, helping the countries to boost
exports.
Obama
said the violence in Burundi "worsened significantly during the election
campaign that returned President [Pierre] Nkurunziza to power earlier this
year."
Clashes
between police and protesters and fear of more unrest prompted nearly 200,000
Burundians to flee the country, with most going to Tanzania or Rwanda.
In
more recent weeks, Burundi has had a string of killings widely seen as a sign
of continued unrest.
Earlier
this month, the European Union imposed sanctions on four Burundians it says
undermined efforts to peacefully resolve the country's political crisis.
They
include a former general who took part in a failed coup on May 13. The others
are high-level officials in Burundi's cabinet, police and intelligence service
who allegedly planned or directed the use of violence to break up street
protests that erupted after President Nkurunziza announced he would run for a
third term.
