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A senior U.S. diplomat warned on Thursday that if Burundi’s president insists on staying for a third term in office, the country will become, quote, “difficult if not impossible” to govern.

Burundi’s electoral body has delayed planned local and parliamentary elections in response to an appeal from African leaders.

The head of the country’s election body made the announcement on Wednesday, after more than a month of protests against the president’s bid for a third term.

President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third mandate has plunged the nation into its worst crisis since an ethnically charged civil war ended in 2005. The protesters say his move violates the constitution, which sets a two-term limit