Burundi expels UN rights body

In a worrying development, the Burundi Government has ordered the UN Human Rights Council to shut its office in the country within two months. Legalbrief reports that this comes just days after Bujumbura issued an international arrest warrant for former President Pierre Buyoya. Foreign Ministry and UN sources have reportedly told AFP that the government has sent a verbal note to resident UN coordinator Garry Conille to transmit the message to the rights council's High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet in Geneva. ‘All international staff must be immediately redeployed and the office has two months to pack up and close its doors,’ a Foreign Ministry source said. He added that the government ‘is growing more radical and defiant towards the international community’. A report on the EWN site notes that Burundi has been locked in a crisis since President Pierre Nkurunziza in April 2015 announced he would seek a controversial third term in office, sparking civil unrest that has left 1 200 dead. In October 2016, Burundi suspended co-operation with the UN's human rights office over its ‘complicity’ in a report accusing it of systematic abuses and warning of a risk of genocide. And Burundi became the first nation to leave the International Criminal Court after it launched a probe into the alleged atrocities in the country.

Full report on the EWN site