Burundi vice president flees days ahead of election

Bujumbura (Burundi) (AFP) - Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial bid to stand for a third consecutive term in office was dealt a fresh blow on Thursday after one of his top deputies fled the country and urged him to step down.

In a letter addressed to Nkurunziza, whose re-election bid has already sparked weeks of civil unrest, a refugee crisis and a coup attempt, second vice-president Gervais Rufyikiri urged the president to "put the interests of the Burundian people before your personal interests."

"Withdraw your presidential bid, because it violates the constitution," the letter said.

Rufyikiri told France 24 television he had sought refuge in Belgium.

"I left... because I was not able to continue to support the attitude of the president, his desire to lead the people of Burundi on the path of illegality," he told the broadcaster late Wednesday from Belgium.

In the Burundian capital Bujumbura, the reaction from Nkurunziza's camp was defiant -- wishing Rufyikiri "good riddance" and accusing him of having had links to coup plotters who tried but failed to force the president from power in mid-May.

"Good riddance to him, all the more so because investigations have proved that Gervais Rufyikiri was mixed up in the failed coup attempt," the president's communications advisor, Willy Nyamitwe, told AFP.

"Someone of his rank, who was involved in an attempt to overthrow democratically-elected institutions... his departure is good riddance for us," he added, dismissing the suggestion that Rufyikiri was in exile because he had dual Burundian and Belgian nationality.

"He can't say he fled because he left officially, with the president's authorization and with expenses. We only consider that he has resigned."