UN says Burundi still torturing and killing opponents

NAIROBI: Burundi security forces and government-allied militia are continuing to torture and kill opponents, UN investigators said Thursday, allegations denied by the government.

The investigators from the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, who have been denied entry to the country, said there was a “feeling of deep and widespread fear” in more than 470 testimonies gathered from people who had fled to neighboring countries.

“Today we can say that our initial fears concerning the scope and gravity of human rights violations and abuses in Burundi since April 2015 have been confirmed,” the investigators said in a briefing to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday.

Burundi’s government angrily rejected the allegations. “We do not accept the content of this report,” said the country’s Human Rights Minister Martin Nivyabandi.

“This report had only one objective, to send certain senior Burundian officials to The Hague,” where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is headquartered, “and to exclude Burundi as a member of the Human Rights Council,” he said, demanding the UN “respect the sovereignty of Burundi.”

Burundi was thrown into a political crisis in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term that his opponents said was unconstitutional.

Since then at least 500 people have been killed while over 400,000 have fled the country.