At least 87 people were killed on the December 11 in Bujumbura, the capital
Bujumbura: As a part of the ‘escalating crisis’ in Burundi, at least 87 people were killed in co-ordinated attacks by security forces. The casualties included 8 security force officers. In contradiction, a large proportion of the victims were killed without the accordance of judicial authorities. However, the victims have been classified as parties involved in attacks against government and military premises.
Image Source: Reuter
The restlessness amongst Burundi residents has been imminent since May this year, triggered by the two-term old President, Pierre Nkurunziza’s attempt at a third leg in office, after he won in a controversial election in July. people in disagreement of this continuous rule had planned to attack the government as well. Moreover, the ethnic conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis has existed since the 1990s and has already led to the death of 300,000 people in Burundi. Similarly, in the repressive mass-killing on December 11, most of the targets were residents of Tutsi-majority areas. Said an amnesty International report, “They are considered by the authorities to be pro-opposition areas, as the protests that began in April against President Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in office started in these neighbourhoods.”
Image Source: APP
Several reports also suggested that the targets were heavily armed as well, indicating the quickly declining human rights environment in the small African country. The second poorest country in the world, residents have frequently come out with stories of systematic disappearances, arrests and sightings of corpses at random on civilian streets in the last few months. Yet, the mass killing on December 11 marks the worst public attack in Burundi’s disputed-marked history. It is important6 to note that the government had given opposing parties of the President to give in their weapons within five days in November to avoid a ‘crackdown’.
“The violent repression that took place on 11 December represented a dramatic escalation in scale and intensity from previous security operations. But the modus operandi of the operations – involving extrajudicial executions, systematic looting and theft, arbitrary arrests and targeting of perceived political opposition strongholds – was not qualitatively different from past practice… the events of 11 December marked a nadir.”
Source: BBC
Tags: Bujumbura Burundi
