The Burundian government on Sunday broke off talks with the opposition two days before a controversial presidential election that has the country gripped by violence, a Ugandan official said, according to dpa. Ugandan Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga is mediating between the government and the opposition on behalf of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who was picked by East African leaders to seek a solution to the crisis. Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in Tuesday's election has sparked months of protests in which about 80 people have been killed. More than 145,000 Burundians have fled to neighbouring countries, while the army has battled rebels believed to be renegade soldiers in the north. "Burundi's Interior Minister Edouard Nduwimana has written to facilitator Crispus Kiyonga, asking him to suspend the talks and give time for the government to think the way forward," said the Ugandan official attending the talks, who asked not to be named. The government and opposition had been discussing Nkurunziza's third term bid and the electoral timetable. The president has ignored calls from Uganda not to stage the election until the government has reached an agreement with the opposition. The election has already been postponed twice under international pressure. Opposition parties have announced they will boycott the election, leaving only Nkurunziza's CNDD-FDD and three parties allied with it to compete for the presidency. Kiyonga, however, said the talks were not yet "dead" and that he was trying to arrange a meeting with Nkurunziza. "We have to be patient," he said. "Talks can continue even after the elections."
