The United Nations has warned the tiny East African country could be sliding back toward civil war.It says up to 200 people may have been killed last Friday in the capital Bujumbura. And that the UN has documented almost 60 extrajudicial killings in the past month alone.
Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura looks calm for a moment but according to UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, tensions in this city are, quote, at ‘bursting point’.
Certainly Friday’s killings were the worst in the months of violence in Burundi since the president, Pierre Nkurunziza said he’d run for a third term. It isn’t clear how many died last week, as the army says 87, while witnesses claim more than double that figure. The attacks look to have been co-ordinated and well organised. The response – brutal, according to the UN.
In its statement, the UN says…
‘Security forces later on carried out intensive house searches in the Musaga and Nyakabiga neighbourhoods, where they arrested hundreds of young men, allegedly summarily executing a number of them and taking many others to unknown locations’
CCTV Africa is still seeking the response to that from the government. There has been a semblance of normality in Bujumbura from Wednesday, for how long is the question… to say it’s tense in Bujumbura is an understatement.
There’s plenty of security and roadblocks outside the city are manned by armed youths loyal to the president.
Few dare to go outside after dark. Residents are by now getting used to finding dead bodies on the streets come sunrise.
