A few days before the 'attempted' coup this week, a blogger in the Burundian capital Bujumbura gave a chilling account of the breakdown of law and order in the capital. The organisers of the protests seemed to have no particular plan and the people were beginning to turn against themselves.

Despite the sharp salience of ethnicity in Burundi’s politics historically, the ongoing disturbances are not about that. They centre on one issue: the people are protesting against violation of their Constitution by a greedy and dumb political class.