Burundi's President Domitien Ndayizeye has fired his vice president, Alphonse Kadege, for allegedly undermining a peace process aimed at ending the nation's civil war.
A presidential spokesman Pancrace Cimpaye says Mr. Kadege was fired after expressing doubt that a referendum on a new constitution would be held on time later this month.
A vote on the constitution is scheduled for November 26. If approved, it would require the country's ethnic Hutu and Tutsi groups to share power in a new government, a key step toward ending Burundi's civil war.
It also demands that Hutu and Tutsi parties share the presidency and vice-presidency.
Burundi's leading Tutsi parties have criticized the government plan for giving too much power to Hutus, and have asked for talks on possible changes ahead of the referendum.
Rivalries between Hutu and Tutsi groups were a key cause for the start of war in 1993.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters, AFP and AP.