UN accuses Burundi of crimes against humanity

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UN investigators have urged the International Criminal Court to open a case “as soon as possible” after accusing Burundi’s government of crimes against humanity.

The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Burundi said on Monday it had “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed and continue to be committed in Burundi,” pointing a finger at “the highest level of the state.”

President of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, Fatsah Ouguergouz, accused the eastern African country of human rights abuses. /Twitter Screenshot

The UN investigators' report detailed widespread and systematic abuses including extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, torture and sexual violence.

“We are struck by the scale and the brutality of the violations,” commission president Fatsah Ouguergouz said in a statement.

"Demonization"

Willy Nyamitwe, a senior communication officer in the office of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, told Reuters the report was an attempt at the “demonization” of Burundi’s state institutions.

“Those UN experts are mercenaries who act on command ... to validate what some people want to see or hear,” he said. “It’s war propaganda. They want to show to the world that the situation is tragic while it is calm.”

International Criminal Court

The UN investigators asked “the International Criminal Court to open an investigation ... as soon as possible”, adding that they feared crimes would otherwise go unpunished.

Members of Burundi's National Assembly raise their arm to vote on October 12, 2016 in Bujumbura, for the withdrawal of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from the capital, after the UN began an inquiry into human rights abuses in the nation. /AFP Photo‍

The investigators said they were drafting a confidential list of suspected perpetrators of crimes against humanity, along with detailed information about the acts they are accused of committing or ordering.

Burundi formally announced it was withdrawing from the court last year however, with the move set to take effect on October 27. After that date, the ICC can only open a case if asked to do so by the UN Security Council.

Political crisis

Burundi was thrown into a political crisis in April 2015 when President Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term that his opponents said was unconstitutional.

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza poses at The Presidency in Bujumbura on June 29, 2017. /AFP Photo

He won elections in July that year, which were boycotted by the opposition.

Between 500 and 2,000 people have been killed in clashes in the country, according to UN and NGO sources.

More than 400,000 people have fled and dozens of opposition activists have been forced into exile.

"Highest level of state"

The Commission of Inquiry put blame for the alleged crimes against humanity in Burundi at “the highest level of the state."

The perpetrators included members of Burundi’s National Intelligence Service, including high-ranking officers, the national police, military officials and members of the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, investigators said.

Members of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, Francoise Hampson of Britain, Commission Presiden Fatsah Ouguergouz of France and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin attend a press conference on the commission's report on September 4, 2017 in Geneva. /AFP Photo

Nkurunziza himself, surrounded by a closely-knit circle of “generals”, was behind “big decisions, including ones that led to serious human rights violations,” the report said.

Armed opposition groups were also responsible for rights violations in Burundi, the report said, noting that these abuses had been more difficult to document.

Burundi suffered a civil war from 1993 until 2006 between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, which claimed an estimated 300,000 lives.

The current unrest has also sparked fear of a wider crisis in Africa’s volatile Great Lakes region, with the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda having been fueled by similar ethnic tensions.

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Source(s): AFP