UN 'extremely concerned' over Burundi's president

When Evariste Ndayishimiye was elected president of Burundi this May, observers hoped he would chart a new course for his country. A United Nations report presented by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Burundi on Thursday in Geneva did much to dispel such hopes.

"The democratic space remains very narrow, impunity persists, and there is no indication that the level of human rights violations has abated under the new government," said Doudou Diene, head of the COI.

In its report, the commission said it was "extremely concerned" with the direction the country was heading under its new leader. Most troubling for the committee were President Ndayishimiye's political appointments of a number of individuals facing sanctions for human rights abuses, in particular two whom he appointed to his Cabinet.

The charges against the two stem from the unrest that swept the country in 2015, as citizens revolted against then-President Pierre Nkurunziza after he announced he would run for a third term in office — something critics said was unconstitutional. With the opposition largely boycotting the vote as illegal, Nkurunziza won the contentious election. The country has remained in a state of chaos since and his 15-year rule came to an end when he died, purportedly of a heart attack, this June.

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UN report outlines May violent presidential election

Despite the fact that Evariste Ndayishimiye was Nkurunziza's interior minister and handpicked successor, many had hoped he would turn away from the "destructive path" of his predecessor, Thursday's report, however, said "few positive changes" took place since he assumed office.

Moreover, the report cited unsettling accounts of the systemic targeted intimidation, sexual assault and murder of opposition supporters in the run-up to this May's disputed presidential election.

The report said some of the crimes documented may be crimes against humanity, pointing specifically to the ruling party's Imbonerakure youth wing, police and members of Burundi's intelligence services, whom the report said, "have continued to enjoy nearly total impunity." The report noted that the sexual abuse of men and women, often during detention, was a common "intelligence gathering tool" used by the president's supporters.

Such abuses have been common practice in Burundi since 2015, and have continued to provoke condemnation. Criticism became so intense that Burundi withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2017 and took the unprecedented step of expelling the UN Human Rights Office from the country.

The ICC investigation into abuses in Burundi, nevertheless, continues. That is where Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni and Security Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca come in. Recently appointed to their Cabinet posts by Ndayishimiye, the two men face ICC sanctions for human rights abuses stemming from 2015. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi has requested a response from the government over the appointments but said it has yet to receive one.

The UN said that at least 1,200 people were killed and over 400,000 displaced across Burundi, mostly by state security forces, between April 2015 and May 2017.

Ballot box abuses and a tiny bright spot

It has also been reported that the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy — Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) forced children to attend party functions as well as to cast votes after officials "gave them the voting cards of deceased or exiled voters."

The only bright spot the COI on Burundi found was the fact that Ndayishimiye appeared to be taking the threat of the coronavirus pandemic more seriously than his predecessor, who said there was nothing to worry about because Burundi had "divine protection."

Read more: OHCRC: Burundi's elections aren't 'credible and free'

Report lists litany of problems

Still, the UN bemoaned the fact that civil rights were not being protected, nor was the government seeking to foster democracy. The commission called on Burundi to release what it says were arbitrarily arrested human rights activists, journalists and political prisoners.

Burundi has long been plagued by corruption and poor governance. Only 5% of the population in the East African country has access to electricity and the average length of schooling is three years.

The World Health Organization has also urged Burundi to resume cooperation with the global agency, after its top official was thrown out of the country in May for voicing concerns over the health risks posed by large-scale political rallies.

The abuse goes on

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi was created by the UN Human Rights Council (ONHCR) in September 2016. The body has previously stated, in relatively certain terms, that crimes against humanity — including rape and extrajudicial killings — have been routine occurrences in Burundi since 2015.

The commission's latest report, it's fourth overall, covers the period from May 2019 to present and claims it: "still has reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity ... have been committed in Burundi. These crimes include murder, imprisonment or other severe forms of deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity and political persecution."

Read more: WHO warns coronavirus could kill 150,000 in Africa, as Burundi expels experts

js/sms (AFP, AP, KNA, Reuters)