Highlights
A total of 232,914 Burundian refugees and asylum-seekers have arrived in the neighbouring countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Republic of Tanzania, Rwanda, as well as Uganda and Zambia since April 2015.
The human rights situation remains worrying. The number of arbitrary arrests is on the rise since 11 December 2015, when attackers launched coordinated assaults on several military installations in Bujumbura.
On 18 December, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council agreed to deploy an African Prevention and Protection Mission to Burundi (MAPROBU) for an initial period of six months but the Burundian Government has refused to allow the AU’s troops into the country. The purpose of the MAPROBU is to protect civilians from the violence that has plagued the country since the re-election of President Nkurunziza in July. The force is mandated to “contribute to the creation of the necessary conditions for the successful holding of the inter-Burundian dialogue and to the preservation of the gains made through the Arusha Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation (...)”.