BUJUMBURA (AFP) - President Domitien Ndayizeye of Burundi has sacked his deputy Alphonse-Marie Kadege, the president's spokesman told AFP, two days after Kadege said he doubted a crucial constitutional referendum could be held as planned later this month.
"The head of state has sacked his vice president," said the spokesman, Pancrace Cimpaye, who added he would give more details at a news conference later Wednesday.
"I am not yet aware so I will make no comment for now," Kadege himself told AFP.
The development throws yet another spanner in the delicate works of Burundi's transition from an 11-year-old war fuelled by ethnic tensions to sustainable peace, and from a three-year interim government to permanent institutions headed by elected officials.
A new constitution which outlines the distribution of power between Burundi's traditionally dominant Tutsi minority -- which makes up just 15 percent of the population -- and its Hutu majority, came into force as a stop-gap measure ahead of a referendum scheduled for November 26.
Ndayizeye is a Hutu, Kadege a Tutsi.
Tutsi political parties have repeatedly expressed opposition to the constitution's power-sharing formula.
The transition timetable, which included dates for a series of elections and for the referendum, was pushed back by several months in October, mainly because hardly any preparations for polls had been made.
On Monday, Kadege told a news conference that "nobody in the political class" believed that the referendum could be held on November 26 but that none dared say so.
The next day, the president's spokesman said it was "dismaying to hear that from the mouth of a member of the government. This is only the opinion of the vice president and not the whole government team."
Burundi erupted into civil war in 1993, when armed Hutu groups rose up against the then Tutsi-dominated army and government. The conflict claimed at least 300,000 lives and ruined the country's economy.
All but one of these rebel groups -- the small National Liberation Forces -- have recently made peace with and joined the transitional government.
11/10/2004 - 12:08 GMT - AFP