Vol 56 No 9 | BURUNDI Pierre nears the precipice 1st May 2015 Now that the ruling party has backed the President’s bid for a third term, hopes for a peaceful election are fading fast The latest attempt by a two-term president to flout the constitution and stay in power got formally under way on 25 April. The congress of the ruling party, the Conseil national po...
Vol 56 No 6 | BURUNDIRWANDA Lake murder mystery 20th March 2015 Little progress has been made in the investigation into dozens of bodies found in Lake Rweru Reports in August that dozens of bodies had been found floating in Lake Rweru on the Rwandan-Burundian border made international headlines and drew condemnation from foreign donors...
Vol 56 No 4 | BURUNDI Massacres in the mist 19th February 2015 As June's presidential election approaches, the political atmosphere is deteriorating and political violence is on the increase President Pierre Nkurunziza has yet to declare whether he will stand for another term in the 26 June presidential election. Increasing signs that he will stand include the growing ...
Vol 55 No 15 | BURUNDI Peace at risk 17th July 2014 A climate of rising fear and uncertainty – never far from the surface in Burundi – is causing concern at home and abroad The government is clamping down on elements within its former coalition partner, the mainly Tutsi Union pour le progrès national (Uprona) because of their opposition to Pres...
Vol 55 No 8 | BURUNDICONGO-KINSHASA Terms of abuse 11th April 2014 The President's bid to change the constitution to allow him to stand for a third term has failed The Kinshasa press loudly celebrated the failure of President Pierre Nkurunziza to amend the Burundian constitution at the end of March, a move intended to permit him a third term ...
Vol 55 No 7 | BURUNDI Taxing troubles 4th April 2014 Tax reforms – which almost doubled state revenues over the last three years – are at risk from Bujumbura's elite and disorganised aid groups What is going wrong with Burundi's impressive tax reforms? Insiders say that corrupt politicians and business people have been fighting back, trying to get exemptions and write-off...
Vol 55 No 4 | BURUNDI Nkurunziza nobbles opposition 21st February 2014 The appointment of a new Vice-President failed to relieve the political crisis and the President is now trying to manipulate opposition leaders Burundi is facing its worst political crisis since the end of the civil war in 2000. When President Pierre Nkurunziza dismissed the First Vice-President, Bernard Busokoza, on 1 Feb...
Vol 53 No 19 | BURUNDI Aid threatened, conflict up 21st September 2012 Rebel forces have stepped up attacks on government positions ahead of a critical aid conference in Geneva The United Nations officially classes Burundi as a ‘post-conflict nation’ but chronic low-level violence persists. At the beginning of September, a dissident offshoot of the main o...
Vol 53 No 10 | BURUNDI Killing on the quiet 11th May 2012 The Interior Minister, Edouard Nduwimana, ordered Human Rights Watch to cancel a news conference in Bujumbura on 2 May at which the campaigning organisation had planned to release ...
Vol 53 No 3 | BURUNDI Storm over opposition man 3rd February 2012 Tanzania arrested a Burundian seen by many as a man of peace but UN experts say he supports armed rebellion Tanzania released the Burundian opposition leader Alexis Sinduhije on 24 January in what is widely seen as a serious diplomatic and political setback for the government of Presiden...
