Kagame accuses Burundi leaders of ‘massacres’

At least 200 people have died in the latest turmoil and 200,000 have fled the country, recalling a few of the darkest periods of recent history in the region.

The witness said he was grilling meats for customers when the attack started. “How can the leaders allow their population to be massacred from morning to night?”

Kagame has mostly avoided talking about the unfolding political crisis in Burundi.

The fatalities are just the latest in a string of civilian deaths that started in April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza declared himself eligible for a contstitutionally proscribed third term, arguing his first one didn’t count as he had been appointed by parliament.

“The Secretary-General stresses the imperative to intensify all efforts to find a political settlement to the crisis in Burundi”, said the statement.

“People are being killed every day, bodies are found on the streets…”

City mayor Freddy Mbonimpa said police were searching for “hidden weapons”, insisting the raids were being “done professionally, because the police are using weapon detectors”.

Troops are going house to house to remove weapons held by civilians.

People in largely opposition areas are continuing to flee the capital for fear of targeted killings by government forces.

A worker at the bar who survived the attack and asked not to be identified said that the men were wearing police uniforms.

“Inflammatory rhetoric deployed in recent days by a few government officials and President Nkurunziza’s planned security crackdown this weekend are increasing the risk of an outbreak of mass violence”, the United States said.

But Kagame said Burundi was responsible for its problems.

Tens of thousands of people fled to Rwanda, which has a similar ethnic mix to Burundi’s, and other neighbouring countries as the crisis mounted.

But the government has dismissed concerns, saying it wanted only to crush “terrorism” and comparing the fight to Somalia’s struggle against al-Shabab fighters that Burundi is fighting as part of an internationally backed African Union force.

Families are leaving their homes in the Central African nation of Burundi after a fatal attack in country’s capital and fear a promised government crackdown on opposition groups will spur more attacks.

Uganda is leading regional efforts to broker peace talks and the UN Security Council is expected to discuss the violence at a meeting on Monday.

Burundi has been rocked by violence since April, raising fears it could slide back into conflict after its 1993-2006 civil war, when a few 300 000 people died as rebels from the majority Hutu people clashed with an army dominated by the minority Tutsis.

The ominous sign came last week, when the country’s Senate president Reverien Ndikuriyo threatened to “pulverize” regime opponents who do not lay down arms before Friday’s deadline.