UN Records Alarming Cases of Human Rights Violations in Burundi

The United Nations documented alarming cases of human rights violations in Burundi, including rape by security forces and large numbers of enforced disappearances after the December attacks on the state’s army facilities, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Hussein said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On December 11-12, 2015, unidentified attackers launched coordinated assaults against three army barracks in Burundi.

"The 11 December attacks against three military camps and the large-scale human rights violations that occurred in their immediate aftermath appear to have triggered new and extremely disturbing patterns of violations," Hussein said in a statement published on United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner’s website.

He added that the United Nations had been reported about 13 cases of sexual violence by security against women during the arrests after the December incident.

"The pattern was similar in all cases: security forces allegedly entered the victims’ houses, separated the women from their families, and raped – in some cases gang-raped – them," he said.

He added that following the attacks, the country’s army forces arrested large numbers of young men in different provinces, who were later tortured, killed or went missing.

Zeid also noted that at least 130 people were killed in Burundi in December, which doubles the November estimates.

Burundi has been in turmoil since late April, after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his bid for a third term in office, although constitutionally he had to step down after two terms. His third-term bid was followed by an attempted coup in May. At least 439 people were killed in Burundi since April 2015, according to the high commissioner.