People burn mattresses looted from the local police post on 13 May, 2015 in Musaga neighborhood in Bujumbura, during a protest against incumbent president Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a 3rd term. Protestors looted the local police post in Musaga, burning furniture, mattresses and clothing in a barricade fire, an AFP photographer said. Burundi’s presidency said an attempted coup by a top general had “failed” on May 13, 2015 and pro-president Burundi troops at state broadcaster fire warning shots over the heads of hundreds of protesters. Nkurunziza, who was attending a regional crisis meeting in neighbouring Tanzania, flies home to Burundi on May 13 hours after Burundian general Godefroid Niyombare announced a coup. AFP PHOTO
Bujumbura – International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a French rights group on Tuesday accused Burundian authorities of ethnically-driven purge of the army.
The Paris-based FIDH in a report said that conflict in Burundi would alarm global powers because the fortunes of the country are so intertwined with its neighbour, Rwanda, where 800,000 people were killed in 1994 genocide.
The report, is the first to shine a light on the impact of violence, which followed President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term in April 2015, on the army.
The report said that the purge of officers from the Tutsi ethnic group comes as Nkurunziza, a Hutu, consolidates power following violence that has killed at least 1,200 people.
“This risks leading to the breakup of the army and pushing a number of soldiers toward a military opposition, which would be synonymous with a new civil war,’’ the group said.
The government in Bujumbura rejected the findings of the report.
Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.