NAIROBI, Kenya
Burundi’s government has signaled that it won’t allow a recently appointed United Nations special rapporteur on human rights into the East African nation.
Foreign Minister Albert Shingiro last week told
reporters, and separately told a meeting with diplomats, that Burundi would
“never” allow the special rapporteur to investigate the country, which was
rocked by deadly political violence and a crackdown on dissent around the 2015
national election.
Some in the international community have tried
to take a fresh approach with Burundi after President Pierre Nkurunziza died
last year, but some human rights groups and critics have alleged that
repression continues under current President Evariste Ndayishimiye.
Local civil society groups last week asserted
that several hundred arbitrary arrests have occurred since Ndayishimiye took
office in June 2020.
The U.N. special rapporteur for Burundi was
created in October by the U.N. Human Rights Council to replace a commission of
inquiry on the country.Foreign Minister Albert Shingiro
Burundi’s foreign minister in his comments last
week asserted that the current government has improved on human rights,
pointing to the termination last month of the U.S. sanctions program on the
country.
He objected, however, to continued European
Union sanctions. - AP
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