HIGHLIGHTS
On 16 August, the African Union (AU) warned that the crisis in Burundi risks “spiralling into a catastrophe” for the country and the wider region, this after the killing of another senior military official. Ms. Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission insisted again on “the imperative of dialogue and consensus to work for a peaceful and durable solution to the crisis and to preserve the important points in the 2000 Arusha Accords”.
A total of 185,765 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 situation in Burundi remains volatile with continued incidents of sporadic violence in the capital.
Last week, the OHCHR reported that at least 96 people had been killed since the start of election-related unrest in April 2015 and urged political leaders to “renounce violence and resume political dialogue”.