Strategic Thinking on East Africa

Nairobi (AFP) - Burundi’s government on Tuesday rejected a proposed African Union peacekeeping mission already dubbed an “invasion force” by parliament. Lawmakers on Monday rejected the planned AU force proposed last week amid growing international alarm over spiralling violence in the tiny central African nation. On Tuesday, the National Security Council (NSC) — including the […]

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From Foreign Policy The small central African country experienced its worst day of fighting in months. But rumors of genocide are still just that. BY TY MCCORMICK BUJUMBURA, Burundi — Burundian authorities claimed to have repulsed a coordinated attack by opposition forces on three military installations here on Friday, after heavy fighting rocked the lakeside capital […]

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International Crisis Group IPI Global Observatory | Burundi is back in the spotlight of the world’s media and the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. As recently as two years ago, the country was considered a success story in peacebuilding circles, but now the news is firmly of a negative variety. The UN is trying to prevent […]

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  BY ELOGE WILLY KANEZA AND IGNATIUS SSUUNA Associated Press At least four people were killed in overnight violence in the Burundi capital, the police said Sunday as sporadic gunfire and loud explosions continued to echo across the city. A local human rights activist, however, said up to seven dead bodies had been discovered and […]

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Rights organizations are concerned the small African nation, which saw a decade-long war end in 2005, is on the brink of another major conflict. Women leaving Burundi in April. (Photo: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters) Samantha Cowan is an associate editor and helms TakePart’s weekend coverage. Families are leaving their homes in the Central African nation of Burundi […]

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By AFP Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused Burundi’s leaders of carrying out “massacres” on their people in his most critical speech yet of the crisis in the troubled neighbouring state. “People die every day, corpses litter the streets… How can the leaders allow their population to be massacred from morning to night?” Kagame said, […]

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by Andrea Purdeková The government’s use of repression over dialogue has put the country and region’s stability at risk. In one of the latest bouts of violence in Burundi last week, at least three people died in Bujumbura as police battled with gunmen who reportedly threw grenades and fired machineguns. This encounter was one of the more recent […]

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By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The president of Burundi’s five-day ultimatum for people to hand over illegal firearms or be treated as enemies of the state may spark extensive bloodshed in the coming days, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said on Thursday. “The United States is alarmed by the […]

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Burning barricades in Bujumbura, as turmoil erupted in Burundi. Photo: Desire Nimubona/IRIN 13 October 2015 – The United Nations in Burundi is calling for aid funding for the humanitarian crisis facing the country, which is facing its deepest political crisis since the end of the civil war after President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a […]

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By: Reuters Nairobi - At least eight people died in shootings in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura overnight, an administrator said, and explosions rang out in several districts, the latest in a series of attacks to hit the city since a disputed presidential election. Local residents told Reuters the police were behind the killings and had been accompanied […]

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