Burundi Holds Elections After Night of Gunfire and Grenade Attacks Marc Santora, The New York times 29 June 2015 Image: Burundians waiting to vote in parliamentary and local elections in Bujumbura, the capital, on Monday.CreditMarco Longari/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BUJUMBURA, Burundi — After a night filled with gunfire and grenade explosions, polling stations in the capital of this central African nation opened Monday morning to thin

Burundi: Peace Sacrificed? International Crisis Group 29 May 2015   Image: REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic   OVERVIEW Despite the failed coup attempt on 13 May, popular mobilisation against outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza’s third term has not abated, and confrontation between the government and the “Halte au troisième mandat” (Stop the Third Mandate) street movement is intensifying. Over 90,000 Burundians have fled and a cholera outbreak

Burundi’s attempted coup ‘failed’ Reuters 14 May 2015   Image: A detained protester cries in front of a burning barricade during a protest in Bujumbura. Picture: REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic Bujumbura - The head of Burundi's army said on Thursday that an attempted coup had failed and forces loyal to President Pierre Nkurunziza were in control, a day after another general said he had sacked Nkurunziza for seeking an unconstitutional third term

Burundi: On the Brink? AfricaFocus Bulletin 27 April 2015 (150427) (Reposted from sources cited below) Editor's Note "The prospect of a third term for President Nkurunziza calls into question the preservation of peace in Burundi. The president is risking it all by trying to force his name on the ballot, against the Catholic Church, civil society, a fraction of his own party and most external partners. The opposition's survival is at stake and the

In Burundi, UN envoy lauds role of women, youths in bringing peace to Great Lakes Un News Centre 20 October 2014 Women and young people must play a central role in establishing a long-term peace for Africa’s Great Lakes Region amid the area’s renewed efforts to overcome a past scarred by conflict, a top UN official said today. Following his visit last week to Burundi, where he met with the country’s President, Pierre Nkurunziza, as well as

Genocide Warning: Burundi 8 September 2014 Since its independence from Belgium, Burundi has been confronted with ethnic violence between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, as has its neighboring country, Rwanda. Between 1959 and 1962, an estimated 50,000 Hutus were killed by the Tutsi Government. In 1972, the Tutsi army murdered an estimated 150,000 Hutus, including nearly all educated Hutus, in an attempt to “decapitate” the Hutu leadership.

On August 10-11, 2014, the Gatumba Massacre Survivors hosted the 10th annual Gatumba Massacre Memorial Gathering to commemorate the memory of 166 innocent Congolese Banyamulenge refugees who were mercilessly slain at a UN-run refugee camp known as Gatumba.  Listen to Nick Kaufman, International Criminal Lawyer and Former Prosecutor and Victims Representative at the International Criminal Court (ICC):

KAMPALA, Uganda — The group stoking fear among many Burundians includes stick-wielding men who sing patriotic tunes. The youth wing of Burundi’s ruling party is also threatening and sometimes killing opposition members with impunity, a human rights watchdog group said Tuesday. One of the poorest countries in the world, the small Central African nation of Burundi shares both a history of ethnic strife and a border with Rwanda, where an overzealous

By Jonathan Lorie 13 June, 2014 The arrest in Belgium last month of a fugitive political leader from Burundi highlights a looming crisis in this central African country, where a grim history of ethnic massacres mirrors its neighbour Rwanda. Eight years on from a Hutu-Tutsi civil war that left 300,000 dead, Burundi faces a political crisis that is already spilling into violence – and more may be on the way as it gears up for elections in 2015.

By Collette Braeckman 10 June, 2014 Restrictions à la liberté de la presse, arrestation du plus connu des défenseurs des droits de l’homme, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, accusé d’atteinte à la sûreté de l’Etat, mandats d’arrêt contre des opposants politiques, rumeurs d’exécutions extrajudiciaires… Le climat politique au Burundi s’alourdit dangereusement et la fuite d’un document confidentiel émanant de la BINUB (Mission des Nations