Reflections of Nkurunziza's brutal reign

Strongmen are intolerant of political opponents, independent journalism and every other organ that makes up a liberal, pluralistic and civil society. And Burundi’s former President, Pierre Nkurunziza, who died on Monday, was no different. In a Mail & Guardian analysis, Aanu Adeoye notes that over the past five years, journalists have been repeatedly threatened and the space for independent media has shrunk considerably. ‘Media outlets have been forcibly closed and many journalists have fled the country. The BBC and Voice of America are banned in the country. Nkurunziza’s ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, has a militarised youth wing, the Imbonerakure, that routinely terrorises Burundians. Security forces, too, were complicit in the reign of terror visited on Nkunriziza’s enemies. In 2017, a panel of UN Human Rights Council investigators uncovered a litany of violations that amounted to crimes against humanity. Witnesses told terrible stories of their treatment at the hands of security agents, including the police and the national intelligence agency.’ And Adeoye points out that in 2017, Burundi became the first country to pull out of the International Criminal Court. ‘There is a tendency to gloss over unsavoury aspects of people’s lives when they die; we do not speak ill of the dead. There is little chance of that happening with Nkurunziza, a man who presided over a poor nation for 15 years. He made life worse for his citizens, and achieved little of note.'

Full analysis in the Mail & Guardian