Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza says he will not run for a fourth term, as deadly protests against his third-term bid continue in the capital.
Mr Nkurunziza called for an immediate end to the protests so that elections could be held peacefully in June.
The Red Cross said one person was killed and nine injured in the latest protests, raising the number of people killed since 25 April to 13.
The unrest is the worst to hit Burundi since a civil war ended in 2005.
Mr Nkurunziza has rejected pressure from the US to step down.
‘Shot in head’
He was nominated by the ruling CNDD-FDD party on 25 April to run for office again.
Mr Nkurunziza has ruled Burundi since the end of the 12-year civil war which killed about 300,000 people.
The AFP news agency reports that its journalists saw police open fire on demonstrators on Thursday in the capital Bujumbura’s Kinama district, killing one with a bullet to the head and wounding three others.
On Wednesday, an opposition presidential candidate, Audifax Ndabitoreye, was arrested on suspicion of fuelling an insurrection. He was later released.
“I am free but they [police] might ask me to come back to hear me. I am home, my wife is crying but they are tears of joy,” Mr Ndabitoreye is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.
Thousands flee.
Mr Nkurunziza is due to hand his nomination papers to the electoral commission.
In a televised address on Wednesday night, Mr Nkurunziza said that all those arrested would be released if the protests stopped.
Source: BBC
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