Protests Continue In Burundi As President Pierre Nkurunziza Seeks Third Term Bid

Protests are set to continue in Burundi as increasing numbers of protesters take to the streets against President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in office.

Three people were reportedly killed and 45 wounded in clashes between protesters and police in the country's capital, Bujumbura, on Monday, bringing the death toll over the past week to 11, including soldiers and police.

President Pierre Nkurunziza announces decision to stand for a third term

As clashes continue, people have been fleeing the country into neighbouring Rwanda, out of fears of all-out fighting.

As many as 21,000 people were reported to have fled to Rwanda in April, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Burundi, a small landlocked country in East Africa, came out of a 13-year civil war based on ethnic lines only nine years ago.

An estimated 300,000 people were killed in fighting between Hutus and Tutsis.

There have been recent claims and counter-claims about the distribution of threatening letters that have been circulated to people's homes.

The letters - illustrated with coffins and graves - say Tutsi men, women, boys and girls will be killed if President Nkurunziza does not run for a third term.

Protesters say Nkurunziza's decision violates the Arusha agreements that ended the civil war.

Some people blame the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party for distributing the letters. The Imbonerakure deny that they are behind the letters.

Al Jazeera's Malcolm Webb, reporting from Bujumburu on Tuesday, said Burundi’s protests and the political standoff are largely not along ethnic lines.

"The ruling party was once a Hutu rebel group. It now includes a small number of Tutsis. But there are also many thousands of Hutus in the opposition," he said.