Burundi’s president Pierre Nkurunziza  is facing pressure from the EU to postpone a controversial election set for June in the wake of violent protest in the country’s capital Bujumbura that has left at least 19 people killed and more than 50,000 others seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

Protests broke out in the tiny East African nation south of Rwanda on April 25, after Nkurunziza announced that he was going run for  a third term, which many saw was a violation of a peace treaty signed in 2005.

The protests have been met with great force by police.

On Monday, Reuters reported that European nations had suspended some aid to Burundi, increasing external pressure on the donor-reliant African nation. European states contribute more than half of the Burundi’s annual budget.

“We call for an immediate end to the use of violent force by police against peaceful protests and the political intimidation, threats, and violence by all armed militia,” Reuters quoted US ambassador to Burundi, Dawn Liberi, saying at a meeting of the government and diplomats.

Koen Vervaeke, the EU envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes region, said the regional bloc was going to withhold 2 million euros earmarked for the June election until the unrest was addressed. EU has already disbursed 6 million for the election.

“We encourage the government of Burundi to take measures to calm the situation, and the idea of a delay in the electoral timetable would be for us a good thing,” Vervaeke told a news conference in Bujumbura.

“Today it is out of question to release the 2 million euros unless conditions for a free, peaceful and credible election are secured,” he added.

Nkurunziza, however, told BBC News that postponing the election would plunge his country into a deeper crisis. He said that the protests against his third-term bid had been orchestrated by “outside forces” and the deaths were regrettable.