Burundi Marriage Order -If you are single and in a relationship in Burundi, you have until December 31st to legalise your relationship with your lover. The Burundi government which is out to reform morals in the country has given an ultimatum to single citizens who may be engaging in premarital sex to make their relationship … Read more
“Who can tell us what the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi was all about?” teacher Josephat Arinetwe asks his pupils as he chalks the question on the blackboard. The class of Rwandan teenagers stare back at him until, upon further prompting, one mumbles: “the massive killing of people.” Slowly Arinetwe draws out more details, scrawling … Read more
Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Thursday called on Burundians who have fled their country to return home, after talks with President Pierre Nkurunziza who was making his first foreign trip in more than two years. The visit — kept secret up to the last moment — was aimed at reviving dialogue on Burundi’s enduring political … Read more
Two of six teens from Burundi who were reported missing in Washington after taking part in an international robotics competition have been seen crossing into Canada, police said Thursday. Police posted photographs of the six — four young males and two females — who participated in the First Global Challenge robotics meet — on Twitter. … Read more
A hand grenade blast killed at least eight people and wounded about 60 others in a bar at Shinya in northern Burundi, local officials and police said Monday. “Still unidentified criminals threw a grenade last night around 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) into a group of a dozen people having a drink on Shinya hill in … Read more
Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza and his ruling party have moved the country toward violent dictatorship, rights groups said Tuesday in a report that slams the international community for inaction. A “purge” of ethnic Tutsis from the army, a crackdown on opposition and media and a bid to change the constitution to allow unlimited presidential terms … Read more
Burundi on Thursday said it has “faith” in the new UN envoy to the crisis-hit country but warned Michel Kafando against “bias” in favour of opposition groups, an accusation also levelled at his predecessors. Appointed last month Kafando, a former president of Burkina Faso, is the fourth UN envoy to be named since June 2015 … Read more
A UN tribunal has agreed to review its appeals judgement against a former Rwandan minister found guilty of genocide crimes, a case blocked for months by the detention of one of the court’s top judges. In a statement released Monday the UN’s Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals said in a rare legal move it would … Read more
Cohabiting couples in Burundi have until the end of the year to get married or face legal consequences. The government order comes after President Pierre Nkurunziza launched a campaign “to moralise society”. A government spokesman said a crackdown on informal relationships was needed to combat a population explosion. He said too many schoolgirls were getting … Read more
Unmarried couples have until the end of the year to legalise their relationships, the Burundi government said Friday, as part of an effort to reform morals in the country. The order follows the launch of a campaign this month by President Pierre Nkurunziza “to moralise society” in the tiny nation which for two years has … Read more
Two years after Burundi’s president plunged the central African country into turmoil, the regime shows no signs of easing up on a crackdown that has forced hundreds of thousands to flee. The UN estimates that at least 500 people have been killed since President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a third term in April 2015. Aid groups … Read more
The government of Rwanda has entreated Ghana to learn lessons from the ethnic cleansing which claimed the lives of millions of Rwandans in 1994. Chairman of the Rwandan Community in Ghana, Bernadin Gatete says failure by Ghana to embrace its ethnic and cultural diversity could plunge the country into similar atrocities. Between April and June … Read more
A video of supporters of Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza singing about impregnating female opposition supporters has caused outrage and been condemned by the government. The two-minute long video shows young men from the party’s youth wing – Imbonerakure -singing in the local Kirundi langauge: Impregnate our opponents so they would give birth to Imbonerakure.” The … Read more
Burundi’s ruling party sought Wednesday to distance itself from a viral video showing members of its feared youth wing threatening to impregnate opposition women. Hundreds of the youths known as Imbonerakure — “those who see from afar” in the local Kirundi language — are shown in military-like formation singing “impregnate the opposition so that they … Read more
The UN Security Council on Monday said it was disturbed by reports of torture and forced disappearances in Burundi but ignored calls from rights groups for sanctions. A French-drafted statement was adopted unanimously after some wrangling with Russia, China and Egypt, which oppose sanctions. The council noted that the security situation in Burundi “has remained … Read more
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza against seeking a fourth term, saying such a move risks deepening the crisis in the African country. In a report obtained by AFP, the UN chief says he is “very concerned” by recent statements by Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, suggesting he could seek a … Read more
The mediator in Burundi’s nearly two-year political crisis on Sunday asked regional leaders to call an urgent summit as deep discord and a government boycott hamper peace talks. Former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa wrapped up four days of talks with some 30 Burundian representatives who agreed on the basic problems, but not how to resolve … Read more
Burundi’s government on Friday asked Tanzania to arrest several leaders of the main opposition attending peace talks in Arusha in a bid to resolve a nearly two-year political crisis. The talks are the latest effort by former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa to mediate the crisis in neighbouring Burundi which erupted when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided … Read more
(This February 15 story has been corrected to fix spelling of mediator’s last name to Mkapa in fifth, sixth paragraphs) The government of Burundi has said it will not attend peace talks scheduled to resume in Tanzania on Thursday, although the main opposition alliance has confirmed its participation. The talks are meant to find an … Read more
Burundi’s government affirmed Tuesday it will shun peace talks with opposition figures planned for later this week in Tanzania, dragging out a political crisis that has stretched for over a year. The talks are intended to resolve deadly political violence that has rocked the tiny central Africa nation for over a year, killing at least … Read more