“The authorities’ inflammatory rhetoric and threats, against a backdrop of political stalemate and extremely serious abuses, could easily trigger widespread violence throughout Burundi. The African Union and the United Nations must respond to the situation by adopting individual sanctions against the instigators of violence and has to be ready to intervene to protect the civilians.”
“People who incite or commit heinous crimes in Burundi need to know that they can be held criminally responsible for their actions. Crimes committed on a massive scale could fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as the ICC Prosecutor has announced last May. We urge her to continue to monitor very closely the situation in Burundi and to reassert her potential jurisdiction in preventing the perpetration of the most serious crimes.”
On Monday November 2, 2015, the President of the Republic, Pierre Nkurunziza issued an ultimatum to people who he called “armed criminals”, calling on them to lay down their weapons and to surrender by Saturday November 7. While addressing the nation in Kirundi [1], he said that this was the last call, “otherwise you will regret having joined the ranks of armed criminals”. Before that speech, and since then, several other high-ranked State officials, including the President of the Senate Mr. Révérien Ndikuriyo, the Minister of Defence Mr. Emmanuel Ntahomvukiye and the Minister of Public Security Mr. Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, used inflammatory rhetoric, hinting that all possible means would be used to neutralise the die-hards.
On October 30, Révérien Ndikuriyo declared: “today, although grenades are being hurled at them, the police are only shooting at people’s legs so as not to kill anyone. The day we will tell them to ‘go to work’ don’t come crying [2]. Moreover, Mr. Emmanuel Ntahomvukiye declared: “if we catch someone with a weapon, he should not come and whine. Anyone who comes weeping or yelping will be considered as an accomplice” [3]. Mr. Alain Guillaume Bunyoni added: “even if the security forces cannot restore order, we have a population of 9 million people to whom we just have to give a sign […] for them to be here in a few minutes. […] How could anyone survive in that situation if they refuse to follow the lead?” [4].
The recent international arrest warrants and requests for the extradition of political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders in exile are also evidence of the hard-line approach being taken by the current regime and the total absence of any willingness to hold constructive and inclusive discussions.
Before the expiry of the ultimatum launched by the President of the Republic, residents of several districts of Bujumbura, including the areas clashing with the regime, such as Mutakura, Cibitoke and Nyakabiga fled for their safety. The summary and extra-judicial executions carried out during the last several weeks have added to the atmosphere of fear. Today, bodies are still being found in the streets of the capital, and, in several cases, they would have been mutilated. Our organisations are also worried about information that confirms ongoing acts of torture in places of detention.
Background
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