October 11, 2017

Time to crack the whip on Burundi atrocities, once and for all

located:	Burundi
editor:	Bob Koigi

Burundi's inability to keep its house in order is an open secret. In one of the most atrocious incidences in the East African region, during a period of just two years, over 2,000 people have been killed and over half a million displaced from their homes and forced to seek cover in neighbouring countries.

In April 2015, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza declared he would vie for a third term in office; a move that goes against the constitutional provisions that allow a maximum of two terms. Needless to say, this triggered a bloodbath occasioned by indiscriminate and frequent killings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and rape.

Over 100 journalists have fled the country since the war broke for fear of their lives. The climax of the atrocities happened last month when police opened fire on a group of refugees peacefully demonstrating to have their country and its sanity restored. At least 39 of them were killed, including a 10 year old girl. President Nkurunziza’s government remains unmoved and has blocked all channels of engagement with regional and international actors.

Attempts by the East Africa Community mediating team, UN Security Council, the Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry and the African Union to ameliorate the situation has hit a dead end. The country has also withdrawn from the International Criminal Court as a way of shielding itself from prosecution on crimes against humanity.

The killings and torture however continue unabated and have threatened to return the country to the civil war that claimed over 350,000 lives between 1993 and 2005. Yet the international community has all the resources to stop this. The East African Community and the African Union, two bodies that President Nkurunziza retreats to enforce the sovereignty of Burundi should crack the whip and force him to understand that a state cannot be sovereign when its people live in fear.

Guided by the 2015 Peace and Security Council resolutions, the African Union should institute targeted sanctions on the holders of the highest office responsible for the mass atrocities, while forcing Burundi's government to allow deployment of AU human rights observers and military experts. The UN and the international community must also impose strict and targeted sanctions on anyone mentioned in the perpetration of crimes against humanity.

These are extraordinary times in the country and they call for a change in modus operandi if the world wants to avoid yet another genocide, because this has all the hallmarks of one.

Photo: IRC - Please, support!