‘On the cusp of full-blown civil war’: UN warns of Rwanda-style genocide in Burundi after latest outbreak of violence
At least 400 people have died in violence and more than 220,000 have fled the country of around 11 million since the crisis began, according to UN figures.
Burundi is at risk of imminent “atrocities” that could lead to a Rwanda-style genocide failing urgent international action, the United Nations human rights chief said on Thursday.
Saying Burundi was “on the cusp of a full-blown civil war”, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein urged the situation be brought before the International Criminal Court.
“Those responsible for human rights violations and instigating violence should be subject to sanctions, including asset-freezes and travel bans,” he said during a special session on Burundi of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The situation needs urgent, concerted, decisive attention from the international community
“The situation needs urgent, concerted, decisive attention from the international community. The involvement of the International Criminal Court in this regard would be of great importance.”
The warning of a risk of looming ethnic bloodshed came as the 54-member African Union said the continent “will not allow another genocide to take place on its soil” – a reference to the horror in Rwanda in 1994.
The special session at the UN’s top rights body is set to debate a draft resolution tabled by the United States pressing for Zeid to urgently dispatch an investigative team to Burundi, with US ambassador Keith Harper decrying “a climate of fear” in the country.
Elisa Nkerabirori, a representative of Burundi's human rights ministry, meanwhile slammed Thursday’s special session and accused international actors of “deliberately disguising the reality of the situation in Burundi ... and supporting the radical opposition”.
