Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A Burundian court has acquitted three civil rights activists who had been handed 10-year jail terms for undermining state security, their organisation said Thursday. The decision is a rare victory for rights activists in the troubled nation. Emmanuel Nshimirimana, Aime Constant Gatore and Marius Nizigiyimana, …
Read More »Burundi military opposes Somali withdrawal plan
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The Burundi army on Sunday said it opposed a request by the African Union that it withdraw 1,000 soldiers serving in an African peacekeeping force in Somalia by February 28. Burundi army spokesman Colonel Floribert Biyereke said in a statement that the military would ask …
Read More »EAC Burundi crisis summit postponed again
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | An East African summit scheduled for December 27 to help broker an end to Burundi’s political crisis has been postponed for a second time, according to a regional bloc organising the talks. Burundi has been caught up in crisis since President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a …
Read More »Burundi told to cut force in Somalia under African pullback
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The African Union has asked Burundi to reduce its contribution to an African peacekeeping force in Somalia by a thousand men under a progressive pullout from the country by the AU. The AU made the request through a diplomatic document called a note verbale, requesting …
Read More »THIS WEEK: Arrest warrant issued against ex-Burundi leader
THIS WEEK: Arrest warrant issued against ex-Burundi leader Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | An international arrest warrant was issued on Nov.30 against Burundi’s former President Pierre Buyoya and 11 former senior officials over the 1993 killing of Melchior Ndadaye. Buyoya now an African Union Representative in Mali denounced the warrant …
Read More »Burundi to shut UN rights office: sources
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The Burundi government has ordered the United Nations Human Rights Council to shut its office in the country within two months, foreign ministry and UN sources told AFP. The government on Wednesday sent a verbal note to resident UN coordinator Garry Conille to transmit the …
Read More »Burundi ex-president Buyoya denounces warrant
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi’s former president Pierre Buyoya on Sunday denounced as politically motivated a warrant issued against him for his alleged role in the assassination of his country’s first democratically elected leader. On Friday, Burundi issued an international arrest warrant against Buyoya, 11 former senior officials and five …
Read More »Four arrests over 1993 killing of Burundi leader
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi authorities have arrested four retired army officers suspected of a role in the 1993 assassination of the country’s first democratically elected President Melchior Ndadaye, a judicial source said. The source said the four arrested Saturday are suspcted of involvement in the killing of Ndadaye, …
Read More »President Museveni receives special message from Burundi’s Nkurunziza
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has received a special message from President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi. The message was delivered to the President today at State House, Entebbe by Burundi Foreign Affairs Minister, Ezechiel Nibigira, who was accompanied by Burundi’s Ambassador to Uganda, Jean Bosco Barege, …
Read More »Burundi refuses to register key opposition party
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundian authorities have refused to register a new political party by main opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, according to a letter seen by AFP Thursday. Rwasa had attempted to create a new party, the National Freedom Front – Hope of the Burundians (FNL – Amizero y’Abarundi), …
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