World Bulletin / News Desk 

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza appealed for ethnic harmony on Wednesday, addressing fears that weeks of political unrest could trigger another bout of bloodletting between Hutus and Tutsis in the heart of Africa's Great Lakes.

In an address on national television, Nkurunziza, who is under pressure from street protesters to end his bid for a third term, said the risk of the former Belgian colony descending once again into genocide or civil war was too great.

"No Burundian wants to revive the tensions of ethnic division or any other nature," Nkurunziza, who has mixed Hutu-Tutsi parentage, said. "The blood that was spilt in the past has taught us a lesson."

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza on Wednesday urged more than 110,000 people who have fled political violence in the last month to return home, saying "99.9 percent" of the impoverished east African nation was peaceful and safe.