Burundi ruling party slams EU sanctions as discriminatory

Burundi's ruling party on Monday accused the European Union of ethnic bias after it slapped sanctions on four senior officials, blasting the move as a "provocation".

Last week the EU slapped a travel ban and an asset freeze on four Burundi officials, accusing them of blocking efforts to resolve the political crisis in the impoverished central African country, prompting a furious response from the ruling CNDD-FDD party of President Pierre Nkurunziza.

"The sanctions... imposed by the EU on Burundians of one ethic group are likely to undermine dialogue (with the opposition) before it has even begun," a statement said, accusing the EU of seeking to stoke divisions between Burundians.

It said the EU decision was "illegal" and accused the bloc of backing anti-government protesters -- "most if not all are housed and fed by certain EU countries", it said, without elaborating.

The statement came after a weekend of violence in which at least a dozen civilians were killed in clashes between police and protesters in the capital Bujumbura.

Since late April, the country has been gripped by violence which erupted after Nkurunziza announced he was going to seek a third five-year term in office, in a move his opponents said went against the terms of a 2006 peace deal which ended 13 years of civil war.

That conflict pitted rebels from the majority Hutu people against an army dominated by the Tutsi minority.

Despite the unrest, Nkurunziza, a former Hutu rebel chief, won a landslide victory in July in a vote which as UN observer mission said was neither inclusive, free nor credible.

The Burundian authorities have promised to open political dialogue but have ruled out talks with those behind the protest movement -- a ban which effectively applies to almost all opposition figures and civil society leaders both in Burundi and in exile.