A Burundi general who was part of a failed coup attempt in May said on 9 July his group was still working to oust President Pierre Nkurunziza, accusing him of stoking ethnic divisions in a country still trying to recover from civil war.

"We are continuing the same action we started on 13 May. And then in that way, we are defence and security forces members who are organising ourselves just to continue helping our people not to be continued being killed by Nkurunziza and his team and Imbonerakure and some members of police," said 46-year-old General Leonard Ngendakumana, who asked that his precise location was not disclosed.

Ngendakumana said the president and his allies were arming the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party's youth-wing, or Imbonerakure, widely seen as a Hutu force.

The general, a Hutu who was fired from his intelligence post in February after helping write a report for the president advising him not to run again, said international pressure on Nkurunziza had failed and added that the international community could increase pressure by delivering on threats to impose sanctions.

"The international community should take real sanctions against Nkurunziza himself, against Nkurunziza and his team because now, they've committed so many crimes that must be judged," he said.

In recent months, protesters have regularly clashed with police on the streets of the capital Bujumbura, with the United States and EU threatening sanctions against those it blames for stoking violence.

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