AFRICA/BURUNDI - Report of an NGO on human rights violations: "We risk genocide if nothing is done"

Wednesday, 16 November 2016 war crimes  

Bujumbura (Agenzia Fides) - "Crimes are being committed against humanity and there is a risk of genocide" denounces Anschaire Nikoyagize, President of Iteka, the local representative of the International Federation of Human Rights (Fédération internationale des droits de l'Homme -FIDH) who yesterday, 15 November, presented a report on the violations of human rights in the Country.
Since the outbreak of the political crisis in April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced the decision to candidate himself for a third term, in violation of the Constitution and the Arusha Peace Agreement, to date, according to FIDH over a thousand people have died, other 8,000 are detained for political reasons, between 300 to 800 have disappeared in Burundi, while the violence and insecurity have driven more than 300,000 people to seek refuge abroad. The report of over 200 pages, attributes most of the crimes to the regime's forces and those of the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, and in particular to the militiamen of Imbonerakure, the youth organization of the party that has become a militia at the service of the President.
Besides those committed by regime forces, the report denounces the crimes perpetrated by guerrilla groups who oppose President Nkurunziza, the Forces Republicaines du Burundi (FOREBU) and Résistance pour un Etat de droit (RED-Tabara).
The FIDH launches an appeal to the AU and the UN for the deployment of a mission of peace enforcement and the relaunch of political dialogue in Burundi. Otherwise there is serious risk of a disaster because, the report says, "there are all the conditions to perpetrate a genocide". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 16/11/2016)


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