Burundi blocks social networks 

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From DPA

Burundi’s telecommunications agency blocked social networks on Wednesday after thousands protested the president’s plan to seek a third term in the country’s upcoming elections.

A protester carries a placard urging the government to re-open their local Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) in Burundi's capital Bujumbura, April 29, 2015. A top U.S. diplomat was heading to Burundi on Wednesday, seeking to halt escalating unrest triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in office, a move protesters say is unconstitutional. Burundi police and two government ministers forcefully entered the RPA station on April 26 and threatened to shut it down for broadcasting about protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza seeking a third term in office, a Reuters witness said. RPA's broadcast was shut down on April 27. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya
A protester carries a placard urging the government to re-open their local Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Social networks, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Viber had been made inaccessible for “security reasons,” according to the national telecommunications agency.

The decision comes after thousands of people have been staging protests across the country since Saturday, when the ruling CNDD-FDD party nominated President Pierre Nkurunziza as its candidate for the June 26 presidential election.

The opposition called the nomination unconstitutional, saying that it violated the 2000 Arusha peace agreement that eventually ended a 12-year civil war between Tutsis and Hutus in 2005 that left an estimated 300 000 people dead.

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