Burundi: 348 'extrajudicial' killings in 12 months - UN

A least 348 people have died in extrajudicial killings in Burundi over the past one year, a UN report says.

According to the report issued by the UN rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the killings were largely blamed on police, intelligence agents, anti-riot officers and militias linked to the ruling party.

“The report further details the tragic and comprehensive deterioration in the human rights of the people of Burundi,” he said.

Aside from violence blamed on the security services, the UN rights office also documented over the same period 134 murders committed by armed men.

The international body said the armed men are likely those opposed to president Pierre Nkurunziza’s government.

Over the 12-month reporting period, the UN rights office also recorded 651 incidents of torture.

According to the report, the incidents were primarily committed between April and July 2015 and from December to April 2016, when the repression of opposition supporters was mostly intense.

The African Union plans to send some 200 military and human rights observers to Burundi to help tame the broiling crisis in the country.

UN report on #humanrights in #Burundi: Arbitrary arrests, torture & extrajudicial executions: https://t.co/S0wwKETWs3 | EHAHRDP #HRC32

— CIVICUS Alliance (CIVICUSalliance) June 30, 2016

Press Agency