(Bujumbura) - The government of Burundi should take urgent measures to end politically motivated killings, assaults, and arbitrary arrests, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Political violence and repression - which continue despite progress in peace talks between the government and the former rebel group, Forces of National Liberation (FNL) - limit peaceful dissent and threaten the integrity of presidential, parliamentary, and local elections scheduled for 2010.
The 86-page report, Pursuit of Power: Political Violence and Repression in Burundi," details cases in which both the FNL and the government, dominated by the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie-Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie, CNDD-FDD), have used political violence and intimidation against opponents and dissenting voices in their own ranks.
"The ruling party and the former FNL rebels have been all too ready to commit abuses to intimidate their political rivals and assert power," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "But this is not the road either to meaningful elections or to a decent future for Burundi's people."
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