Burundi rights abuses must be probed
Burundi’s security forces responded with a rampage in parts of the capital Bujumbura, regarded as centres of opposition. Hundreds of people have died in the past few months and at least 200,000 have been forced to feel the country into neighboring countries after clashes between the government and anti-Nkurunziza forces.
AFP news agency reported that on Monday, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said she hoped the government’s negative stance on the force was not its “final answer”.
The AU team said it had reports of “arbitrary killings and targeted assassinations” as well as arrests, detentions and torture.
Men carry away a dead body in the Nyakabiga neighborhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, on December 12, 2015.
One of the victims was a 15-year-old boy who had been shot in the head.
Burundi had descended into bloodshed last April when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his intention to run for a controversial third term, which he went on to win in July. The announcement was followed by streets protests that boiled over into a failed coup in May.
Nkurunziza’s third term was opposed by many Burundians and the worldwide community, who say it violates the country’s constitution two-term limit.
Burundi has rejected the decision by the African Union (AU) to send in troops to the east African country saying the presence of such a force in the country will be perceived as an “invasion and occupation force”. Burundi’s government has rejected the A.U. decision.
Burundi has so far dismissed proposals for any peacekeeping force on its territory and Karerwa said any such move by the AU would have to be approved by the United Nations Security Council.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said Tuesday that Washington would “strongly prefer that the government in Burundi welcome the A.U. mission on the timeline set out”.
“We are out here trying to raise awareness around the human rights violations that [have] been going on in Burundi, where we come from”, organizer Teddy Ntwari said at the vigil in front of the Calgary Courts Centre.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the A.U. communique authorizing the deployment and has started to identify possible U.N. support for the initiative, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
In another effort at mediation, Burundi’s fighting sides are to meet on December 28 in Uganda to try to resolve the crisis, Uganda’s defence minister has said.