U.N. urges investigations of possible Burundi crimes against humanity

BUJUMBURI, Burundi – The United Nations asked the International Criminal Court to investigate whether human-rights violations committed in Burundi constitute crimes against humanity.

An investigation by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Burundi found that the authorities in the East African nation committed crimes including extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances over the past two years, according to a report published Monday. The perpetrators include “high-level officials” in the National Intelligence Services and the police, the commission said.

Its findings were based on several months of investigations that involved interviews with more than 500 witnesses, it said.

Landlocked Burundi has been wracked by violence in which hundreds of people have died and has forced more than 400,000 to flee their homes since April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he was seeking a third term. Opposition parties said his re-election violated a two-term limit set out in agreements that ended a civil war. A crackdown on protests was followed by sporadic attacks on military and government officials.

Burundi’s government rejects the commission’s findings, said Willy Nyamitwe, press adviser to Nkurunziza.

“They want to change the regime in Burundi and the West is behind that,” he said. “They are mercenaries,” he said, referring to the U.N. commissioners.