Bujumbura - A dissident faction of Burundi's National Liberation Front voted on Sunday to oust party leader Agathon Rwasa and name a new leader, but the former rebel leader's supporters rejected the move.
Around 400 delegates participated in the congress in the capital Bujumbura led by former senior members who were expelled from the party.
"Mr Agathon Rwasa has just been ousted from the presidency of the FNL party for numerous serious mistakes," the dissidents said in a declaration.
Jacques Kenese, the party's former foreign relations chief, was unanimously approved by acclamation as the party's new head, the declaration said.
"We will now write to the interior minister to let him know the results of this extraordinary congress and ask him to recognise the new authorities of the FNL party," Kenese told reporters.
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The congress was held under special authorisation from Interior Minister Edouard Nduwimana, prompting accusations that the ruling CNDD-FDD party was behind the move.
"This pseudo-congress is a non-event," FNL deputy leader Alfred Bayaga told reporters. "It's a plot by the party in power through the interior minister."
"The CNDD-FDD party thinks that his sort of manoeuvre will allow it to win the elections in 2010. Unfortunately they risk leading the country towards catastrophe," he said.
A diplomat said the dissident movement "clearly enjoys the support of the government".
"This worries the South Africans enormously, who fear that official recognition of the FNL dissidents will put in peril the peace process in Burundi," said the diplomat, who requested anonymity.
South Africa is a mediator between the government and the FNL, which became a political party on April 21 and was one of the country's last active rebel movements.
General elections are due to take place in 2010 in Burundi, a central African state struggling to emerge from 13 years of civil war that pitted the Tutsi-dominated army against Hutu rebel movements. - AFP
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